Analysis of the familiar psychopathology as a therapeutic tool

The objective of this study is to find out the degree of psychopathology which patients with an eating disorder present (ED) and to which degree this is accompanied by the presence of psychopathology in mothers and fathers of patients. Three groups of patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), and eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS) and a control group were selected. Each group had 30 participants (and mothers and fathers). A socio-demographic questionnaire and the SCL-90-R were applied. This scale measured nine dimensions of psychopathology in patients, mothers and fathers. An ANOVA of partially repeated measures with two factors was applied to each dimension of SCL-90-R. Multiple comparisons between groups within each of the repeated measures were carried out with Sidak test. Patients in three clinical groups obtained significant differences in all psychopathological variables compared with the control group, except in phobic anxiety. These clinical results were accompanied by some degree of psychopathology in mothers but not fathers. The presence of high levels of psychopathology in the three groups of patients and mothers has therapeutic implications that indicate the need for psychological intervention in patients and their mothers.