Abstract
Recent studies suggested that encouraging self-esteem is important for treating patients with eating disorders, especially for patients with bulimia nervosa. Self-esteem is consisted of self-concepts and self-evaluation. Classifying typical self-concepts and self-evaluation of patients with bulimia nervosa and examining the relationships between these and symptoms of bulimia can be meaningful for encouraging the patients' self-esteem. The purpose of the present study was to develop the Bulimic Personality Assessment Sheet (B-PAS) from a qualitative method, and confirm its reliability and validity of the B-PAS. Eight patients with bulimia nervosa participated in this qualitative study. Typical self-concepts of patients were obtained, and preliminary version of B-PAS was developed. Then, we confirmed the reliability and validity of B-PAS with 172 university student sample, revealing a six factor structure of B-PAS. In addition, the “the depressed-self” and “the autistic-self” had negative effects on self-esteem and strengthened bulimic symptoms. These results suggest necessity for parallel treatments for a set of self-concepts and utilizing a resilient function of “the obsessive and striving self” in clinical settings.
