[Shame and social anxiety in anorexia and bulimia nervosa].

Objectives: The importance of shame for the understanding of eating disorders has been well-known for a long time, but only few empirical studies exist to date on this aspect. Particularly the sense of self-esteem and external appearance have been attributed a major influence in the emergence of shame. Since social anxiety has increasingly been considered to be a factor in recent discussions related to eating disorders, and shame is a primary symptom of social phobia and of social anxiety in general, the present study focuses on shame and social anxiety in anorexia and bulimia, as compared to other clinical disorders.