Anorexia and autism - a cautionary note

摘要

We read with interest Clare Allely's article (September, 2013) on the potential link between anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Allely reviewed evidence suggesting an overlap between these two conditions both in terms of behaviour (e.g. interpersonal difficulties) and cognition (e.g. set-shifting and theory of mind difficulties), provocatively concluding that it seems 'reasonable to consider AN to be within the spectrum of autistic disorders'. While we warmly welcome discussion of the commonalities between these two conditions, we nevertheless believe that researchers should be more cautious in their analysis of the literature for two key reasons.