Der Essanfall: Ursache oder Konsequenz negativer Affekte?

Abstract

According to empirical literature an increasein shame, guilt, and disgust seems to play an importantrole in the maintenance of binge eating episodes inbulimic patients. Yet, the extent of these negative affectivestates compared to those experienced by a controlgroup without eating disorder has not yet been studied.Patients and Methods: 66 female bulimic inpatients and50 healthy women participated in the study and rated theextent of 10 affective states before and after a ‘typical’binge eating episode using the German version of thedifferential emotional scale. Results: Before a typicalbinge eating episode bulimic patients reported markedlyhigher levels of negative affects than the healthy controls.Both groups experienced increased feelings of guiltafter binge eating, additionally, bulimics reported an increasein disgust and contempt. Discussion: Increasedfeelings of disgust and contempt after a typical binge eatingepisode seem to be specific for patients with bulimianervosa. Results concerning the extent of negative affectivestates suggest them to be both cause and consequenceof binge eating. The results are discussed withregard to current cognitive models of bulimia nervosa.