Dimensional measures of personality as a predictor of outcome at 5-year follow-up in women with bulimia nervosa

Dimensional models are commonly used as a supplement to the categorical model within the field of personality disorders. The purpose of this study was to examine personality dimensions as predictors of 5-year outcomes among women with bulimia nervosa. One hundred and thirty-four women with bulimia nervosa participated in a randomised psychotherapy treatment trial. Data was available for 109 out of the 134 participants at follow-up. Outcomes were the presence of any eating disorder (past year), the presence of a mood disorder episode (past year), and the global assessment of functioning at 5-year follow-up. Self-directedness was the only predictor of any eating disorder diagnosis (past year) at 5-year follow-up. Asceticism significantly predicted the presence of a mood disorder episode (past year) at 5 years. Borderline personality disorder symptoms predicted global functioning at 5 years. These results suggest that high self-directedness at pre-treatment may offer potential prognostic information regarding eating disorder status 5 years post-treatment. Furthermore, no single measure predicted outcome for all variables (any eating disorder diagnosis, a mood disorder episode (past year), or global functioning) at 5-year follow-up. This suggests that a comprehensive personality assessment using multiple measures is desirable for predicting outcomes.