Eating disorders and sexual abuse

Abstract

This review examines the current debate on the role that sexual and physical abuse may play in predisposing to eating disorders in women. Despite some discordant opinions, clinicians agree that the experience of abuse in early childhood may be important for understanding the complex genesis of the eating disorders of some women. Three groups of studies are presented: those in which no connections emerge between sexual abuse and eating disorders, those in which a strong link is present and those in which the results refer to a multifactorial interpretative model. Some of the main symptoms, such as reactualization of the trauma, dissociation, personality disorders, pathological relationship with food, distortion of body image, suicide attempts and self-inflicted punishment that victims of abuse and eating disordered subjects share are examined.