Sexual Abuse and Eating Disorders Essay -- Health Violence Papers

Sexual Abuse and Eating DisordersThe possible relationship between versed abuse and the outgrowth of an eating disorder has gained attention over the last few years. Researchers have attempted to clarify this potential link using a variety of existence samples and research methodologies. As will be shown, the results of these investigations are rather diverse and sometimes inconclusive. In the following review of the literature, the complex relationship between sexual abuse and eating disorders will be examined while also discussing the methodological limitations of the various designs.Anorexic SamplesSteiger and Zanko (1990) equald rates of incestuous abuses (sexual contacts with family members) and extrafamilial abuses (sexual traumata involving other perpetrators) among eating disordered women who met DSM-III-R (American psychiatric Association, 1987) criteria, women with psychiatric disturbances, and common women. The authors interest in the psychological effects of abuse le d them to examine psychological defenses which are believed to filter perceptions and affects. Defenses were of interest to the authors for two reasons (1) incest victims a good deal resort to maladaptive defenses with a self-victimizing quality, in which anger at others is expressed through self-sabotaging acts and (2) the authors previous work suggests that eating disordered women use primitive defenses when compared to normal and psychiatrically disturbed women. This particular study was designed to determine the degree to which traumata like sexual abuse might have effects upon defense-style development.In order to compare rates across eating disorder subtypes, the eating disordered women were divided into the following groups (1) ... ...Test The BULIT-R. Psychological Assessment A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 3, 119-124.Walters, C., Smolak, L., & Sullins, E. (1987). Parent-child interactions and adversity of child sexual abuse. Paper presented to the annual convention of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore.Welch, S.L., & Fairburn, C.G. (1994). Sexual Abuse and Bulimia Nervosa Threeintegrated berth control comparisons. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 402-407.Wonderlich, S., Donaldson, M.A., Carson, D.K., Staton, D., Gertz, L., Leach, L.R., & Johnson, M. (1996). Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 11, 195-207.Zlotnick, C., Hohlstein, L.A., Shea, M.T., Pearlstein, T., Recupero, P., & Bidadi, K. 1996). The Relationship Between Sexual Abuse and Eating Pathology. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 20, 129-134.