Self-harming behavior, pain and body perception in patients with eating disorder

Background and aims:Clinical reports indicate that 5-9% of adolescents injure themselves deliberately (2). Studies of self-injurious behavior point to higher rates in patients with personality disorders, mental retardation or eating disorder (deliberate self-harm /DSH/ is present by 30-40%). We are examining the relation between DSH and pain and body image perception (BIP) in ED patients. An elevated pain threshold is consistent finding in eating disorders (1).Methods:Body image perception and dissatisfaction is measured by software Anamorphic Micro, Body attitude test (BAT) and Somatoform dissociation questionnaire (SDQ-20). We diagnosed the comorbidity with Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Pain threshold latencies for thermal stimuli were measured using the Analgesia meter (IITC Life science USA-Model 33) under mental arithmetic stress and rest conditions.Results:Our preliminary data include comparison of 3 groups (ED /n=20/, ED with DSH /10/, controls /20/) were age, BMI, illness duration and diagnoses matched. 10 patients from the total of 93 were displaying DSH in the past. The ED-DSH group didn't show any differences in pain threshold from the controls (contrary to ED), but we found that the stress analgesia of the ED-DSH group was significantly lower than controls (p=0,01) and ED (p=0,03). Dissatisfaction characteristics from Anamorphic Micro correlated with BAT (r=-0,82; p=0,007) but not significantly with SDQ-20.Conclusions:We found lower stress analgesia in ED-DSH group and we suppose that further pain and body perception studies are promising for understanding neuropathophysiology in ED.