Depression and Preferences of Meta Values in Women with Eating Disorders

Depression co-occurs with eating disorders. It can precede the development of the latter, accompany disease symptoms or be their effects, which has a negative impact on the course, therapy and prognosis of the disorders. Values, which are an indicator of motivation, are associated with the assessment of psychophysical health condition as well as with pro-health behaviours undertaken by an individual. The research focused on establishing the relationship between severity of depression symptoms and meta values preferred by women with eating disorders. A total of 100 women were examined, including 50 diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and 50 diagnosed with bulimia, according to ICD-10 classification. The Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) and the Schwartz Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-R2) were used. In the group of women with anorexia, a strong positive correlation was revealed between severity of depression and meta value self-transcendence and a strong negative corrections between meta-value self-enhancement and affective disorder. A reverse relations of moderate strength occurred in women with bulimia between the affective disorder and meta value self-enhancement while a moderate negative dependence was found between meta value openness to change and depression severity. The relationships between the analyzed variables differentiate the type of eating disorders. The strongest correlations refer to the meta values located in the dimension of self-transcendence vs self-enhancement. These concern women with anorexia nervosa.