Dissociation and Traumatic Experiences in Eating Disorders

✍ Scribed by Riccardo Dalle Grave; Raffaella Rigamonti; Patrizia Todisco; Emanuela Oliosi

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 533 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1072-4133
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0968(199612)4:4<232::aid-erv145>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of trauma and dissociative experiences in a group of patients with eating disorders. One hundred and three patients were assessed at the beginning of inpatient treatment, using the Dissociation Questionnaire (01s-Q) and a semi-structured interview. DIS-Q scores were compared for patients and a group of 1 12 high school graduating students serving as controls. Of the patients 37.8 per cent reported traumatic experiences. The highest trauma rate was among patients with bulimic symptoms. Notable differences were fmnd between the patients and the control group in t e r n of the total DZS-Q score and on all subscales. Twenty patients (19.4 per cent) demonstrated pathological dissociative experiences (versus 3.6 per cent in the control group). Among patients, the highest total DIS-Q scores were disphyed by bulimic @dents, w h e a s the lowest were found in obese patients. Our data support the hypothesis that trauma-induced dissociative experiences m a y influence the development of eating disorders, at least for certain subgroups of eating disorders (i.e. underweight and normal weight bulimic subjects).