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An analysis of social anxiety in anorexic, bulimic, social phobic, and control women

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Abstract

Responses to the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) were examined in 23 women with anorexia nervosa, 54 women with bulimia nervosa, 50 female college undergraduates, and 43 social phobic women. Results indicated that women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa scored comparably high to social phobic women on measures of social anxiety and that these fears were not limited to fears of eating or drinking in public. This study suggests that fears of negative evaluation in women with eating disorders may generalize beyond the fears of scrutiny of body shape and size to more traditional social situations.

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Bulik, C.M., Beidel, D.C., Duchmann, E. et al. An analysis of social anxiety in anorexic, bulimic, social phobic, and control women. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 13, 199–211 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00960784

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