Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T21:14:31.665Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sexual Abuse in Patients with Eating Disorder, Patients with Depression, and Normal Controls

A Comparative Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Christine M. Vize  and
Peter J. Cooper
Christine M. Vize
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychiatry, St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London
Peter J. Cooper*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The University of Reading, Reading
*
Professor Peter J. Cooper, Department of Psychology, The University of Reading, 3 Earley Gate, Whiteknights Road, Reading RG6 2AL. Fax: 01734 316665
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Background

A history of sexual abuse has been widely reported in patients with eating disorders. However, the association does not appear to be specific, because a high rate of such abuse has also been found in other psychiatric patients.

Method

A standardised interview method was used to elicit details of sexual abuse in a psychiatrically normal control group and samples of patients with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or depression.

Results

An equally high rate of abuse was found in all three clinical samples. Among the patients with anorexia nervosa the presence of bulimic episodes was not found to be associated with reports of abuse; and among the patients with bulimia nervosa there was no relationship between abuse and a history of anorexia nervosa. Among the patients with eating disorders, borderline personality disorder, assessed by means of self-report questionnaire, was not found to be related to reports of abuse, although there was an association between abuse and both indices of impulsive behaviour and the overall level of personality disturbance.

Conclusions

Childhood sexual abuse appears to be a vulnerability factor for psychiatric disorder in general and not eating disorders in particular. The way in which abuse interacts with other aetiological factors to produce different psychopathological trajectories remains to be elucidated.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 167 , Issue 1 , July 1995 , pp. 80 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., et al (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.Google Scholar
Beitchman, J. H., Zucker, K. J., Hood, J. E., et al (1992) A review of the long term effects of child sexual abuse. Child Abuse and Neglect, 16, 101–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bifulco, A., Brown, G. W. & Adler, Z. (1991) Early sexual abuse and clinical depression in adult life. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 115–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bifulco, A., Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. O. (1994) Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA): a retrospective interview measure. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 1419–1435.Google Scholar
Briere, J. & Runtz, M. (1988) Symptomatology associated with childhood sexual victimisation in a nonclinical adult sample. Child Abuse and Neglect, 12, 51–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connors, M. E. & Morse, W. (1993) Sexual abuse and eating disorders: a review. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 13, 1–11.Google Scholar
Cooper, Z. & Fairburn, C. G. (1987) The Eating Disorder Examination: a semistructured interview for the assessment of the specific psychopathology of eating disorders. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 4, 485–494.Google Scholar
Folsom, V. L., Krahn, D. D., Canum, K. K., et al (1989) Sexual abuse: role in eating disorders. New Research Program Abstracts. 142nd Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Folsom, V. L., Krahn, D. D., Nairn, K., et al (1993) The impact of sexual and physical abuse on eating disordered and psychiatric symptoms: a comparison of eating disordered and psychiatric inpatients. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 13, 249–257.Google Scholar
Hyler, S. E. & Rieder, R. O. (1987) Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire – Revised. New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H. (1990) Incest, incestuous fantasy and indecency: a clinical catchment area study of normal-weight bulimic women. British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 399–403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClelland, L., Mynors-Wallis, L., Fahy, T., et al (1991) Sexual abuse, disordered personality and eating disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158 (suppl. 10), 63–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullen, P. E., Martin, J. L., Anderson, J. C., et al (1993) Childhood sexual abuse and mental health in adult life. British Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 721–732.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palmer, R. L., Chaloner, D. A. & Oppenheimer, R. (1992) Childhood sexual experiences with adults reported by female psychiatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 261–265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palmer, R. L., & Oppenheimer, R. (1992) Childhood sexual experiences with adults: a comparison of women with eating disorders and those with other diagnoses. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 12, 359–364.Google Scholar
Pope, H. G. & Hudson, J. I. (1992) Is childhood sexual abuse a risk factor for bulimia nervosa? American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 455–463.Google Scholar
Schmidt, U., Tiller, J. & Treasure, J. (1993) Setting the scene for eating disorders: childhood care, classification and course of illness. Psychological Medicine, 23, 663–672.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sloan, G. & Leichner, P. (1986) Is there a relationship between sexual abuse or incest and eating disorders? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 31, 656–660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. L. & Endicott, J. (1975) Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia – Lifetime Version. New York: Biometrics Research.Google Scholar
Steiger, H. & Zanko, M. (1990) Sexual traumata among eating disordered, psychiatric, and normal female groups. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 5, 74–86.Google Scholar
Waller, G. (1991) Sexual abuse as a factor in eating disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 664–671.Google Scholar
Waller, G. (1992) Sexual abuse and the severity of bulimic symptoms. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 90–93.Google Scholar
Waller, G. (1993) Sexual abuse and eating disorders: borderline personality disorder as a mediating factor? British Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 771–775.Google Scholar
Welch, S. L. & Fairburn, C. G. (1994) Sexual abuse and bulimia nervosa: three integrated case control comparisons. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 402–407.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.