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Childhood sexual abuse in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: a pilot study
D B Herzog1, J E Staley, S Carmody
1Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Objectives:
The aims of this pilot study were to determine the feasibility and scientific merit of coordinating a large-scale investigation of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) in outpatient-eating disordered women and to evaluate the usefulness and potential adverse effects of a semistructured trauma interview.
Method:
The sample was randomly selected from subjects participating in a naturalistic longitudinal study of anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). The refusal rate was 26%. Twenty women with DSM-III-R AN/BN were assessed with the traumatic antecedents interview (TAI); a brief semistructured follow-up interview was administered over the telephone 3 to 8 weeks after the first interview. Subjects also completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES).
Results:
Thirteen subjects (65%) reported CSA, and those with more comorbidity reported CSA more frequently. Subjects with a history of CSA had significantly higher scores on the DES. Minimal adverse consequences to the TAI were noted.
Conclusions:
The high compliance rate, high prevalence of CSA, and high DES scores among our pilot sample support the merit of studying CSA in a larger sample.