Bulimics 'are more impulsive'

By Suzannah Ramsdale  on Tuesday 6 January 2009

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Bulimics are more impulsive and less able to control their urges than other people, a study has found.

During a round of psychological tests scientists found that sufferers were more likely to act on instinct than non-sufferers.

When asked a question, those with bulimia jumped to respond first even though the answer could be wrong.

'Patients with bulimia exhibited greater impulsivity than (non-sufferers), responding faster and making more errors,' according to the findings, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal.

The study also found that once they had got an answer wrong they often still went on to make another unforced error.

Researchers believe that it is this inability to control their behaviour that could be the reason they become bulimic in the first place.

The scientists, at Columbia University in New York and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, have called for more research to be carried out so that doctors can set about helping patients to control their impulses.

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Tuesday 6 January 2009

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