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Disgust sensitivity in eating disorders: A preliminary investigation
Author(s) -
Troop Nicholas A.,
Murphy Fay,
Bramon Elvira,
Treasure Janet L.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(200005)27:4<446::aid-eat9>3.0.co;2-w
Subject(s) - disgust , psychology , bulimia nervosa , psychopathology , anorexia nervosa , eating disorders , shame , binge eating , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , anger
Background Disgust is a basic emotion that has been relatively neglected in psychiatry in general and in eating disorders in particular. Nevertheless, there are features of disgust and its more complex derivatives (e.g., shame) which suggest that disgust may have a role to play in eating disorders. Method Seventy‐four patients with a DSM‐IV diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, eating disorder not otherwise specified, and obese binge eater were compared with 15 control subjects on their levels of disgust sensitivity. Results Overall, eating disorder patients did not appear to be more sensitive to disgust‐eliciting stimuli than comparison subjects, although there was a tendency for patients to be more disgusted by body products. However, drive for thinness and bulimia scores were related to higher levels of disgust sensitivity to food, death, and magical contagion. General psychopathology did not appear to be related to levels of disgust sensitivity. Discussion Although patients are not more sensitive than controls to the disgust‐eliciting stimuli measured, disgust still has a positive relationship to eating disorder symptoms. Future studies will need to examine more precisely what this relationship might be. © 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 27: 446–451, 2000.