Comparison of impulsivity and its components in eating disorders,obsessive-compulsive disorder and normal group

Eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder co-occur on many occasions.Impulsivity is one of the prevalent features between the mentioned disorders. The purpose of this study is to compare the feature of impulsivity and its components in eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and the normal individuals.

This study carried on patients suffering from eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder receiving treatment at Bozorgmehr clinic in Tabriz in 1389-1390, using a convenience sampling. A normal group matched with patients’ groups and Barratt impulsiveness scale was used to collect data.

Data was analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The results show that the clinical groups have the higher rates of impulsivity compared to the normal group but there are no meaningful differences between the clinical groups. Regarding the components, the study shows that the attention impulsivity and non-planning impulsivity have significant differences between eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder with normal group, but there are no differences between two clinical groups. Regarding motor impulsiveness, there are no differences between the groups.

high impulsivity and its components were noticed among the patients and this may justify the patients’ problems of behavioral inhibition and delay needs.