NCJ Number
188618
Journal
Family Violence & Sexual Assault Bulletin Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: Winter 2000-2001 Pages: 17-22
Date Published
2000
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This is a global survey of the literature on the effects of childhood abuse and neglect as an antecedent to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating disorders (ED) in women.
Abstract
There is an apparent struggle in the literature to support the belief that sexual abuse in childhood is related to disturbed eating behavior. The major problem among the studies was methodological, including no comparison groups used or excluding an eating disordered sample in the study. One suggestion was that a third factor may be the missing link needed to help make this connection between childhood sexual experience and a later development of an eating disorder. This factor may be another childhood experience such as neglect or other types of abuse. The literature did suggest that PTSD and eating disorders did appear together, but PTSD did not appear to be related to the type of eating disorder or severity of the ED symptoms. The overall suggestion from the literature apparently is the need to examine the full range of possible abusive experiences in women with eating disorders, rather than just focusing on sexual abuse. There is a need to assess for PTSD in the eating disordered population. The Clinician Administered PTSD Scale is recommended. Treatment for the traumatized eating disordered client can include individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, and pharmacological interventions. 29 references