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22 December 2005
Shedding Light On Relationship Between Abuse And Eating Disorders 
The link between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders has been unclear, with some studies showing a relationship and others none. But a new study shows there is a link, albeit a complex one. The study, appearing in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, suggests that childhood sexual abuse is not a significant risk factor on its own, but it is when combined with psychological distress (depression or anxiety) and a condition of emotional disconnection known as alexithymia. "Those factors appear to play an important role not only in how eating disorders get started, but more importantly in how they keep going," said researcher Anita Hund, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "What sends one woman over the line, and not her classmate (with a similar background), probably has a lot to do with how they experience emotions," she added. Co-researcher Dorothy Espelage said the new study validated much of what many counselors and clinicians already believed or suspected. She added that the results also have consequences for the treatment of eating disorders and related behaviors on college campuses. "Many women on campuses engage in disordered eating behaviors, from severe restriction or dieting, to binging and purging," Espelage said. Among those are women who come to campus with no history of such behaviors, "but begin to feel dissatisfied with their bodies in a very competitive environment and engage in disordered eating for the first time." "Past research on the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders had produced inconsistent and confusing results because it did not take multiple factors into account," Hund said. "In reality, the association between a history of childhood sexual abuse and disordered eating behaviors is very complex." Using results from previous research, the researchers developed a hypothetical model of associations between various factors. The factors in the model included childhood sexual abuse, general psychological distress, alexithymia, restrictive eating behaviors and attitudes, body dissatisfaction, and bulimic eating behaviors (such as binging and purging). "These study results fit into the idea that eating disordered behaviors actually have a purpose," said Hund. "Somebody who's abused is of course going to have some issues around dealing with emotions, and this is their solution to functioning." Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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