DISSERTATIONS 2020

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA IN WOMEN WITH BINGE EATING DISORDER

Vivian de Freitas Bandeira

Advisor: Profa. Dra. Denise Gimenez Ramos
Keywords:Binge eating. Childhood trauma. Analytical psychology

Abstract: The research aimed to investigate the associations between binge eating disorder and childhood trauma in women with binge eating, understanding their psychosocial aspects. The participants were 18-year-old women with binge eating disorder, who participated in groups focused on the theme of binge eating on Brazilian Facebook. In order to do it, a link from the SurveyMonkey platform with the following questionnaires were made available in these groups: Qualitative Anonymous Form, Binge Eating Scale (ECAP) and Questionnaire on Childhood Traumas (QUESI). 604 participants completed all questionnaires and inclusion criteria out of the 1,574 women who were questioned. The results revealed that 77% of the sample had severe binge eating and that there is a positive correlation between the level of binge eating and the rate of global childhood trauma, emotional abuse and emotional neglect, respectively. BMI also showed a significant and positive correlation with binge eating and trauma in global childhood, the latter being a greater predictor for a higher level of binge eating. Eating has been associated with multiple emotional factors, seeming to work as a strategy that aims to appease unbearable affective states, as well as a maladaptive coping strategy in conflict scenarios. After an episode of compulsion, the participants reported calmness, relaxation and decreased nervousness and anxiety, although negative affective states, especially disgust, shame and guilt, have increased. The negative interference of binge eating in life and social relationships was the most statistically significant correlation in this study, indicating the severe damage that binge eating causes in social interactions. Finally, the system of self-regulation and self-control gets impaired when there is a trauma in childhood and because of this, the individual would have difficulty controlling his food intake, which could lead to an episode of binge eating. This would make up for the self-regulation system that had been damaged, being a way to compensate for affective deprivation and to defend the individual from the experiences of abuse and emotional neglect. Such data indicate that eating would be more associated with a mechanism of self-protection, defense, compensation and self-regulation than with hunger itself.