Levels of childhood traumatic experiences and dissociative symptoms in extremely obese patients with and without binge eating disorder.

It has been suggested that obese patients with binge eating disorder (BED) show higher levels of dissociation and childhood trauma. This study assesses childhood trauma history and dissociative symptoms in obese patients with BED compared to obese patients without BED. The 241 patients participating in the study had to meet obesity criteria. These patients were applicants for bariatric surgery and were consulted by a psychiatry service. Patients were separated into two groups that were accompanied by BED diagnoses according to structured clinical interviews administered according to the DSM-IV (SCID-I). Patients were assessed using the Dissociation Questionnaire (DIS-Q) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The two groups of patients were compared. A total of 75 (31.1%) of the 241 obese patients were diagnosed with BED. The study showed that obese patients with BED had higher dissociative scores than those without BED ( < .05). The results showed higher total scores and two different types of childhood trauma (physical abuse and emotional abuse) in BED patients compared to non-BED patients ( < .05). Clinicians should be fully aware of BED, dissociative symptoms and childhood traumatic experiences. These results show that, for at least a sub-group of obese patients, BED is associated with obesity and may be connected with dissociative symptoms and childhood physical abuse and emotional abuse.