This study explores the relation between self-nurturance and disordered eating. Both structured questionnaires and forms requesting open-ended descriptions of themselves and their parents were administered to bulimic (n = 18), dieting restrainer (n = 20), and nonrestrainer (n = 20) women. The use of food-related and non-food-related forms of nurturance was assessed, as were subjects' reactivity to positive and negative events, levels of dependency, self-criticism, and efficacy. Factor analysis of the various scales yielded three factors: Non-Food-Related Self-Nurturance, Negative Reactivity, and Food-Related Self-Nurturance. The results indicated that bulimics were less likely to nurture themselves in non-food-related ways and derived a greater percentage of their total self-nurturance from food than both restrainers and nonrestrainers. The results also indicated that bulimics engaged in a greater degree of negative self-criticism and reactivity to negative events than nonrestrainers. Differences between bulimics and restrainers are explored in detail. The results are discussed in relation to self-nurturance and its implication for the treatment of bulimia.

Using a new measure, the Patient Representation Inventory (PRI), this study investigated the nature of psychotherapists' working clinical models of their patients. The data provided by 73 therapists suggest that, regardless of experience level or theoretical orientation (cognitive-behavioral or psychodynamic), therapists tend to evoke such representations by accessing the words spoken during sessions and by recreating visual images of their patients' nonverbal contributions to the therapeutic dialogue. These representations tend to be in the service of more deeply understanding patients; their affective tone is suggestive of empathy, authenticity, and involvement. More-experienced therapists tend to evoke representations that rely largely on bodily sensations and the emotional atmosphere reflective of clinical interactions. Apparently, similarities and differences among therapists can be studied not only at the manifest level of clinical work, but at the representational level as well.

This study investigated the validity of Blatt's model of depression as indicated by his operational measure of its constructs via the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ; Blatt, D'Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976). Hypothesized relations between the two relevant scales of the DEQ and Tellegen's (1982) Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) were examined. Participants consisted of 195 women, including 67 hospitalized unipolar depressives, 77 never-hospitalized unipolar depressives, and 51 nonpsychiatric controls. Overall, the results partially supported the validity of the DEQ even though all participants were women and prior studies have indicated the DEQ's greater discriminative validity for men than for women. However, several of the most strongly predicted relations, such as between DEQ Self-Criticism and MPQ Achievement were not confirmed. Coherent, significant relations between scales of the two measures remained after partialling out the effects of severity of depression.

Two fictional intake summaries were presented to either psychodynamically (n = 32) or cognitivebehaviorally oriented (ft = 22) psychotherapists. Therapists rated the personality attributes of and expectations for the course of therapy with these potential patients. Therapists were less inclined to treat hypothetical patients whom they did not like, even though they believed these individuals to be in greater need of psychotherapy. When imagining themselves working with less liked patients, therapists expected to feel less confident of their skills and were more concerned that such patients would engage in countertherapeutic activities. Cognitive-behavioral therapists were somewhat more likely to differentiate between liked and less liked patients in their expectations for the course of therapy than were psychodynamic therapists. Implications for the provision of psychotherapy services are discussed.

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