The role of coping and general psychopathology in the prediction of treatment outcome in eating disorders

This study examined coping and general psychopathology as possible predictors of reduction of eating disorder symptomatology. Assessment took place at pre- and post-treatment for all eating disorder patients (N = 93). Eating pattern and behavior were measured, as well as BMI and general psychopathology. As hypothesized, the coping strategies and comorbidity of respondents at pre-treatment contributed significantly to their outcome scores, and behavior aspects associated with eating disorders. Active coping strategies and low levels of general psychopathol-ogy predicted better outcome scores. This implies that active coping strategies and low levels of accompanying psychopathology at pre-treatment could be indicators of good chances for reduction of eating disorder symptomatology such as emotional eating, bulimia symptomatology, ineffectiveness, and introceptive awareness.