Emotional Abuse, Neglect in Eating Disorders and their Relationship with Emotion Regulation (original) (raw)
Related papers
Cureus, 2019
Eating disorders (ED) are well known psychiatric disorders associated with dysregulated eating behaviors and related thoughts and emotions. Common eating disorders are bulimia nervosa (BN), anorexia nervosa (AN), and binge eating disorders (BED). There is an active link between child abuse and eating disorders, emotional child abuse being the important subtype of CA and has a strong comorbid psychopathological relationship with EDs, including AN. The PubMed database was searched for the related articles about child abuse, including emotional childhood maltreatment and their psychopathology associated with EDs, especially AN. No filters were used for the date of publication and article types. Childhood abuse, including physical, sexual, and emotional maltreatment, has an active link with psychopathology associated with dysregulated eating behaviors. However, emotional childhood maltreatment including emotional abuse, neglect, and/or exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) has been least studied, but studies have shown a strong relationship with the symptoms of anorexia nervosa such as weight concern, negative self-image, and maladaptive emotional response. Emotional dysregulation is the crucial psychopathological factor involved in mediating the effects of emotional childhood maltreatment and symptoms of anorexia nervosa and is strongly associated with long-term morbidity in patients with AN. Conducting more clinical studies in the future would help explore the temporal causation, and this association may help the practitioners to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in the management of AN.
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2012
The present study examined the relationship of child maltreatment to both emotion dysregulation and subsequent eating pathology. In an effort to extend previous research, the authors examined the unique impact of childhood emotional abuse (CEA) on emotion dysregulation and eating disorder (ED) symptoms while controlling for the effects of sexual and physical abuse. Structural equation modeling was utilized to simultaneously examine the effects of all three abuse types on multiple dependent variables as well as examine whether deficits in emotion regulation mediated the relationship between abuse and eating pathology. Results from a survey of 1,254 female college students revealed significant paths from abuse subtypes to specific eating disorder symptoms, with CEA evidencing the strongest association with ED symptoms. Additionally, emotion dysregulation was positively associated with ED symptoms, and mediated the effects of emotional abuse on symptoms. Findings support previous research on the enduring effects of emotional abuse as well as highlight the importance of the assessment of CEA in the treatment of ED symptoms.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America
Background: Individuals with eating disorders often report histories of childhood sexual abuse, but no direct relationship has been elucidated. Studies have examined sexual, physical and emotional abuse as factors contributing to the pathogenesis of eating disorders. Objective: Clinical studies and vignettes of eating disorder patients with histories of abuse or neglect are discussed, as are personality and family traits, genetics, and neurobiological changes that mediate this relationship. Methods: MedlinePlus, PsycINFO, PsychiatryOnline, and PubMed were searched, using filters for full-text clinical studies in English between 1996-2016. Studies were only included if they were published in peer-reviewed journals, scholarly books, or clinical manuals; used reliable validated scales or structured interviews; and involved subjects who experienced abuse before age eighteen. Methodological issues and efforts aimed to overcome them are discussed. Results: Within an eating disorder population, patients with histories of childhood abuse are more likely to purge, self-harm, and have psychiatric comorbidity. Childhood abuse is more often reported by bulimics than anorexics. Purging anorexics report childhood abuse more often than restricting anorexics. Rates of childhood abuse are comparable in ED populations and general psychiatric populations. Conclusion: Childhood abuse is a non-specific risk factor for eating disorders. Eating disorder patients who report childhood abuse are more likely to purge, self-harm, or have psychiatric comorbidities, thus treatment of these patients must address trauma. Many biopsychosocial factors contribute to outcomes of childhood abuse victims, and further research is needed in order to understand the link between adversity in childhood and subsequent eating pathology.
Journal of Clinical Nursing, 2009
Aim. The aims of this study were to determine whether specific forms of childhood trauma predict eating psychopathologies and to investigate the mediating effects of the psychological symptoms of depression and obsessive-compulsion between childhood trauma and eating psychopathologies in patients with eating disorders. Background. The highest probability of poor treatment outcomes in patients with eating disorders has been observed in those who experienced childhood trauma. Therefore, researchers are now examining whether childhood trauma should be considered a risk factor for eating psychopathology, but childhood traumatic experiences as predictors of eating psychopathology and their mediating variables has not been investigated sufficiently with this clinical population. Design. Survey. Methods. The subjects were 73 Korean patients with eating disorders. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Eating Disorder Inventory-2, Beck Depression Inventory and Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory were used to assess self-reported childhood trauma in five domains (emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect and physical neglect), eating psychopathology, depression and obsessive-compulsion. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to explore whether these childhood traumatic experiences predict eating psychopathology and mediation analyses were conducted according to Baron and Kenny's guidelines. Results. Emotional abuse, physical neglect and sexual abuse were found to be significant predictors of eating psychopathology. We also found that depression fully mediated the association between some forms of childhood trauma and eating psychopathology, while obsessive-compulsion did not mediate this association. Conclusions. Future interventions for patients with eating disorders should focus on assessing the possibility of childhood trauma, especially in those patients with poor treatment outcomes. In addition, whether or not traumatised individuals exhibit depression is a more important predictor of eating psychopathology than the traumatic experience itself. Relevance to clinical practice. Early intervention for childhood trauma and depression might contribute to preventing eating disorders in traumatised individuals.
Impact of a history of physical and sexual abuse in eating disordered and asymptomatic subjects
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1998
The present study aimed to explore the impact of sexual and/or physical abuse among eating disordered patients (ED) and asymptomatic subjects. A total of 86 patients with anorexia nervosa, 69 patients with bulimia nervosa and 81 asymptomatic subjects were assessed. Among ED, we did not find a significant association between abuse experiences and the severity of the eating disorder, or between abuse and dissociative symptoms. Among ED, self-destructive behaviour appears to be the most important predictor of a history of sexual and/or physical abuse. In contrast, in the asymptomatic group, the score on the Dissociation Questionnaire is the only significant predictor of reported abuse experiences.
2020
BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) plays a role in development of disordered eating behaviors (DEBs). Difficulty in emotion regulation is another factor influencing disordered eating. This study was directed to examine the association between CEM and DEB among students, by considering the emotion dysregulation as a mediator. METHODS: This correlational study was conducted in form of a cross-sectional design, using structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the data collected from 401 non-native undergraduate students through convenience sampling method. Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was used to assess childhood emotional abuse and neglect. Emotion dysregulation and DEB were respectively measured using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and Eating Attitude Test (EAT). RESULTS: The partial mediation model of difficulties in emotion regulation in the association between CEM and DEB among male and female student...
Research Paper: Role of Emotional Dysregulation and Childhood Trauma in Emotional Eating Behavior
Objective: Many people, especially women, indulge in eating unhealthy food to cope with stress. Emotional eating may contribute to obesity and different eating disorders like bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. The present study aimed to investigate the role of emotion dysregulation in emotional eating behavior. Methods: A sample of 700 adults between the ages of 18 to 50 years was selected via purposeful sampling method. The participants completed Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. The data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis. Results: Pearson correlation coefficient indicated a significant and positive correlation between emotion dysregulation and emotional eating behavior (r=0.30; P<0.001). Also, there was a significant and positive correlation between childhood trauma and emotional eating behavior (r=0.19; P<0.001). The results of regression analysis also showed that emotion dysregulation is the strongest predictor of emotional eating behavior.
The impact of childhood sexual abuse in anorexia nervosa.
Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) on clinical characteristics and premature termination of treatment in anorexia nervosa (AN). Method: The participants were 77 consecutive patients with AN admitted to an inpatient eating disorders unit. The patients were assessed in terms of eating disorder symptoms, general psychopathology, and CSA history at admission to hospital. Results: Thirty-seven patients (48%) reported a history of CSA before the onset of the eating disorder. Individuals with a history of CSA reported significantly greater psychiatric comorbidity, including higher levels of depression and anxiety, lower self-esteem, more interpersonal problems, and more severe obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Patients with the binge-purge subtype of AN (AN-BP) were significantly more likely to report a history of CSA prior to the onset of the eating disorder as compared with patients with the restricting subtype (AN-R) of the illness (65% of the AN-BP patients vs. 37% of the AN-R patients; p < .02). Contrary to our predictions, abused patients were not significantly more likely to dropout of treatment overall. However, patients of the binge-purge subtype (AN-BP) with a history of CSA were significantly more likely to terminate treatment prematurely as compared with the other patients. ଝ Conclusions: Consistent with previous findings, the present results indicate that the prevalence of CSA is high among individuals seeking inpatient treatment for AN. A history of CSA was associated with greater psychiatric disturbance overall and a higher rate of dropout for patients of the binge-purge subtype.