Anorexia nervosa in the context of daily experience

This research employed the Experience Sampling Method to study the daily lives of two anorectic women. They and 24 women from a normative population filled out reports on their experience at random moments during an ordinary week in their lives. The sample of 40-to-45 reports per person suggests that the anorectics spent more of their time alone and experienced lower average affect than other young single women. In addition, the reports from Case 1 provide concrete quantitative demonstration of an abnormal preoccupation with food. The reports from Case 2 show how this woman's moods are strongly tied to her fluctuating sense of control