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Wednesday, 29 June 2005 10:59

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Anorexia linked to undetected autism

A leading expert yesterday suggested that severe anorexia may be linked to undetected autism in women.

Professor Christopher Gillberg of Strathclyde University said autism – a condition which affects a person’s ability to communicate and socially interact – can make anorexic patients unresponsive to treatment.

An obsession with calorie counting may be a signal of autism in women, said Professor Gillberg. The defect is generally regarded as a male problem as it affects up to four times more boys than girls.

He added that anorexic patients who were also autistic would not respond to standard psychotherapy treatments.

"Our research has shown that a small but important minority of all teenage girls with anorexia nervosa in the general population meet diagnostic criteria for autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome or atypical autism.

"I've seen quite a number of cases where the anorexia has become completely entrenched because people haven't understood that underlying the eating disorder is autism.

"If you have an autism spectrum disorder you have great difficulty even understanding basic concepts about other people's thoughts and feelings, which means anything said in a family-therapy session is likely to be misconstrued by the affected individual who will not grasp what is going on in that particular context.

"Instead they need much more concrete, one-to-one interventions."

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