Aird Carlye S, Reisinger Bennett A A, Webb Stephanie N, Gleaves David H
University of South Australia, Justice & Society, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
University of South Australia, St Bernards Rd, Room C1-07 Magill Campus, Magill, SA, 5072, Australia.
J Eat Disord. 2025 Jan 27;13(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s40337-025-01198-x.
Currently, we know little regarding how stigma attributed to eating disorders compares to that of other psychological disorders and additionally within different types of eating disorders. In the current study, we aimed to explore the stigmatisation of eating disorders by comparing the stigma attributed to anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, utilising depression as a comparative control.
A total of 235 participants from the general population were randomly assigned to an anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, or depression condition. Participants responded to a questionnaire consisting of several adapted versions of pre-existing subscales that measured levels of stigma associated with psychological disorders generally, as well as stigma associated with eating disorders specifically. We used several one-way analyses of variance to investigate the differences in stigma attributed towards the aforementioned psychological disorders.
Results suggested that all three eating disorders were significantly more stigmatised than was depression. Between the eating disorders, the three were generally equivalent except that binge-eating disorder was significantly more stigmatised than both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa on a subscale measuring trivialness.
These findings indicate that individuals with eating disorders, including binge-eating disorder, may be at a higher risk of experiencing the negative implications of stigma when compared to other psychological disorders, such as depression. To our knowledge, this study is one of few that directly quantify and compare stigma attributed towards anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. Through further research, a better understanding around the expression of stigma towards specific eating disorders could inform the development of targeted interventions to help reduce the stigma associated with these disorders. This knowledge could also advance the understanding of the lived experience of individuals living with eating disorders, subsequently informing treatment practices.
目前,我们对于饮食失调所带来的污名与其他心理障碍相比情况如何,以及在不同类型的饮食失调中情况如何,了解甚少。在当前的研究中,我们旨在通过比较神经性厌食症、神经性贪食症和暴饮暴食症所带来的污名,并以抑郁症作为对照,来探讨饮食失调的污名化问题。
总共235名来自普通人群的参与者被随机分配到神经性厌食症、神经性贪食症、暴饮暴食症或抑郁症组。参与者回答了一份问卷,该问卷由几个改编自现有分量表的版本组成,这些分量表测量了与心理障碍相关的污名程度,以及与饮食失调相关的污名程度。我们使用了几个单因素方差分析来研究对上述心理障碍所赋予污名的差异。
结果表明,所有三种饮食失调的污名化程度都显著高于抑郁症。在饮食失调之间,三者总体相当,但在一个测量琐碎性的分量表上,暴饮暴食症的污名化程度显著高于神经性厌食症和神经性贪食症。
这些发现表明,与抑郁症等其他心理障碍相比,患有饮食失调(包括暴饮暴食症)的个体可能更易遭受污名化带来的负面影响。据我们所知,本研究是少数直接量化并比较神经性厌食症、神经性贪食症和暴饮暴食症所带来污名的研究之一。通过进一步研究,对特定饮食失调污名表达的更好理解可为有针对性干预措施的制定提供信息,以帮助减少与这些障碍相关的污名。这些知识也有助于增进对饮食失调患者生活经历的理解,进而为治疗实践提供参考。