Substance abuse among women with eating disorders Eating disorder research has revealed a higher incidence of substance use and/or abuse in women with eating disorders compared to the general population general. Most research agrees that substance abuse is more common in patients with bulimia nervosa and the binge/purge subtype of anorexia patients than in women with the restrictive subtype of anorexia nervosa. Researchers and specialists have proposed a number of theories to explain the strong association between substance abuse and bulimia nervosa. The experiments provided no evidence to conclusively support any theory. However, studies conducted over the past decade have allowed researchers to refine their hypotheses and accumulate more accurate information about eating and substance use disorders. The researchers examined personality characteristics, family history, and biological and environmental factors common to people with substance use problems and eating disorders. Additionally, the onset of eating disorders is examined in relation to the onset of substance abuse to determine whether one disorder drives the other. Differences in the characteristics of patients with anorexia nervosa and patients with bulimia nervosa are examined to determine differences in rates of comorbidity with substance abuse. Although continued research is needed to evaluate the validity of the proposed theories, current knowledge proposes some interesting ideas about the relationship between substance abuse and eating disorders. In the literature on eating disorders and substance abuse there is general agreement on two factors: patients with eating disorders show higher rates of substance abuse problems and...... middle of paper .... ..capacity for substance abuse in eating disorders. NIDA.159, 269-311.Krahn, D., Piper, D., King, M., Olson, L., Kurth, C., Moberg, D. P. (1996). Diet in sixth grade predicts alcohol use in sixth grade. Journal of Substance Abuse. 8, 293-301. Sinha, R., Robinson, J., Merikangas, K., Wilson, G. T., Rodin, J., & O'Malley, S. (1996). Eating pathology among women with alcoholism and/or anxiety disorders. Alcoholism: clinical and experimental research. 20, 1184-91. Striegel-Moore, R., & Huydic, E. (1993). Alcohol problems and eating disorder symptoms in high school students. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 14, 417-25. Welch, S., & Fairburn, C. (1996). Impulsivity or comorbidity in bulimia nervosa. A controlled study of deliberate self-harm and alcohol and drug abuse in a community sample. British Journal of Psychiatry. 169, 451-8.