or starvation. A recent study taken place in November of 2000, called Perfectionism in anorexia nervosa: Variation by clinical subtype, obsessionality, and pathological eating behavior, shows that perfectionism is a healthy and perceptive characteristic of anorexia nevosa. The study is from the American Journal of Psychiatry. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of perfectionism as a phenotypic trait in anorexia nervosa and its relevance across clinical subtypes of this illness (Halmi, et al, 2000). The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and the perfectionism subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory were administered to 322 women with a history of anorexia nervosa who were participating in an international, multicenter genetic study of anorexia nervosa (Halmi, et al, 2000). The basic differences with women that have anorexia nervosa and those who dont were examined by using generalized estimating equations. A unidimensional definition of perfectionism is the belief that a perfect state exists that one should try to attain (Pacht AR, Halmi, et al, 2000). The participants with a history of anorexia nervosa were enrolled in an international, multicenter study examining the genetic basis of anorexia nervosa (Halmi, et al, 2000). The basic goals of this particular genetic study of anorexia nervosa were to use family history to identify genes that may or may not be receptor genes for the further studies of anorexia nervosa. All the people that were involved completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism scale which is a self-report questionnaire that evaluates six areas of perfectionism, including concern about mistakes, personal standards, parental expectations, parental criticism, doubts about action, and organization (Halmi, et al, 2000). The results of this study is that the people who had had anorexia nervosa had significantly higher total scores on the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale than did the healthy com...
