Trauma and dissociation in obese patients with and without binge eating disorder: A case – control study

Giovanni Luca Palmisano,Johan Vanderlinden,Daniela Scaltrito,Andrea Bosco,Bartolomeo Giorgio,Diego Sarracino,Marco Innamorati,Filippo Pergola

doi:10.1080/23311908.2018.1470483

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to evaluate the presence of childhood trauma, psychological and somatoform dissociation in obese (OB) and overweight patients with and without binge eating disorder ...

Highlights

IntroductionResearchers have been focusing on the relationship between childhood abuse, obesity and binge eating disorder (BED)
Over the past 20 years the association between childhood abuse and eating disorders (EDs) has been investigated extensively, suggesting above all a positive relation between early traumatic experiences and binge eating symptoms (Armour et al, 2016; Guillaume et al, 2016; Palmisano et al, 2018; Treuer, Koperdák, Rózsa, & Füredi, 2005; Waller, 1991; Webster & Palmer, 2000; Wonderlich et al, 2001), but the understanding of the mechanism that links childhood trauma and EDs remains unclear.Recently researchers have been focusing on the relationship between childhood abuse, obesity and binge eating disorder (BED)
The goal of this study is to evaluate whether overweight and OB individuals with BED significantly differ regarding the presence of early-life traumatic experiences and level of somatoform and psychological dissociation compared to an age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and social class matched sample of OB patients and a normal control group (NC) composed by normal weight people (BMI ranging between 18.5 and 25.5 kg/m2)

Summary

Introduction

Researchers have been focusing on the relationship between childhood abuse, obesity and binge eating disorder (BED). Epidemiological studies performed in large community samples reported that individuals exposed to childhood trauma are more likely to be obese (OB) in adulthood (Alvarez, Pavao, Baumrind, & Kimerling, 2007; Williamson, Thompson, Anda, Dietz, & Felitti, 2002). Using data from a very large sample in the Adverse Childhood Experiences study, Felitti et al (1998) found that childhood trauma increased 1.6-fold the lifetime risk to develop severe obesity. Maddi, Khoshaba, Persico, Bleecker, and VanArsdall (1997), in a representative sample of 1,027 morbid OB subjects recruited from the Comprehensive Weight Management (USA) revealed that a combination of childhood sexual, emotional and physical abuse predicted obesity in adulthood. Other authors highlighted that OB women reported most often exposure to any types of childhood maltreatment, including childhood sexual abuse (Aaron & Hughes, 2007; Gustafson & Sarwer, 2004; Noll, Zeller, Trickett, & Putnam, 2007), physical abuse (Bentley & Widom, 2009), emotional abuse (Taylor et al, 2006), emotional and physical neglect (Johnson, Cohen, Kasen, & Brook, 2002; Lissau & Sorensen, 1994; Vámosi, Heitmann, Thinggaard, & Kyvik, 2011) and bullying by peers (Adams & Bukowski, 2008) and that obesity is common among victims of multiple forms of abuse (Midei & Matthews, 2011; Palmisano, Innamorati, & Vanderlinden, 2016; Power, Pinto, & Li, 2015)

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