A BODY TO NOT FEEL DYSPHORIA IN FEEDING AND EATING DISORDERS: SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC AND CLINICAL CORRELATES OF DYSPHORIA...

Food-related problems in Feeding and Eating Disorders (hereafter referred to as eating disorders - EDs) might be considered as the expression of dysfunctional individual and relational patterns based on emotional and behavioral dysregulation. Dysphoria is a transnosographic syndrome found in a multitude of psychiatric disorders including EDs, our cross-sectional study aims to analyze its presence in Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating Disorder (BED) to define its socio-demographic, clinical correlates and phenomenological expression in the three types of EDs.

A total of 165 patients were recruited from March 2019 to November 2024. Anamnestic history was collected through a specific form. The Italian version of the Nepean Dysphoria Scale (NDS-I) was used to evaluate Dysphoria. After performing descriptive analyses, one-way ANOVA and Pearson's r test were performed to respectively assess between-group differences and correlations. Significance was defined as p<0.05.

AN presented the highest degree of Dysphoria than the three, BED the lowest. Older age, physical illnesses and ongoing medical therapy correlated with lower levels of Dysphoria. A Statistically significant positive correlation was found in smoking habits, association with another psychiatric disorder, especially with anxiety disorder, use of benzodiazepines (BDZ) and use of antipsychotics (AP).

Dysphoria acquires fundamental importance within EDs, possibly having a specific role in the etiology and maintenance of eating behaviors, it might play a core role in this type of mental disorder, with the behavioral aspect aimed at reducing dysphoric anxiety. Understanding these connections could represent a useful tool for the comprehension of EDs, which are increasing and have always represented a great diagnostic and therapeutic challenge.