In this work we focus on binge eating disorder [BED], recently recognised as an eating disorder [ED] in its own right. It is an important public health issue because of its prevalence and its close relationship with obesity and other conditions. In this sense, BED is also linked to numerous comorbidities, both physical and psychological, and also has important functional repercussions. Here, we generally deal with comorbidities, because the literature remains unclear about the meaning of the relationship between BED and these variables, sometimes referring to risk factors, and sometimes to the consequences of BED. However, there are two risk factors of the BED that have been more widely agreed upon in previous studies : disturbances in interoception and body image. We proposed here to study them together, since they are both related to the way the body is viewed, from an external point of view for body image, and from an internal point of view for interoception. Body image has been studied a lot in the BED, which is less the case for interoception, and more precisely interoceptive sensibility. However, these two concepts have very rarely been studied together, especially in the BED.
It seemed important to us to make up for this lack since it could shed light on the underlying mechanisms of the disorder, and provide insights for its care. We therefore wondered about the interoceptive profile of these subjects. In the same way, we sought to verify the body image profile of the subjects with BED, which was the subject of more consensus in the literature. Finally, we studied the links that could exist between these two variables in this population, which was missing in the previous literature. This study was carried out using online self-questionnaires, some of which had not been used enough in this population to provide reliable results. The sample consisted of 75 participants, including 13 subjects with symptomatology of BED and 62 control participants.
Unfortunately, our study did not allow us to show any disturbances in interoceptive sensitivity in these subjects, nor any disturbances in body image, apart from greater body dissatisfaction, contrary to our hypothesis. Even if these disturbances have not been highlighted here, links have been shown between certain facets of body image and a dimension of interoceptive sensitivity (confidence in internal body signals). However, we assumed that these links were of a mediating nature, i.e. that the interoceptive sensitivity was a mediator between body image and binge eating, which our study did not show.
We then discuss these results in the light of earlier studies and the limits we may have encountered in this work. Among them, an important limitation was the data recruitment period that took place during the 2020 lockdown, which is known to have a major influence on the psychological state of people and therefore on their eating behaviour. We also see the clinical implications of such research, where cognitive-behavioural therapies seem to be relevant for practical interventions. Finally, we see here that the conclusions should be taken with caution. This study has nonetheless shown that we need to pay attention to the methodologies used, and that there are still avenues to be explored further in order to shed light on the underlying mechanisms in the BED in order to better target therapeutic interventions. The discrepancies of our results with previous studies probably indicate the diversity of the profiles of the subjects with BED.
Keywords : binge eating disorder, body image, interception, interoceptive sensitivity, mediation
Words we have learned :
- underlying mechnisms : mécanismes sous-jacents
- we assumed : nous supposions
- avenues : pistes
- carry out a study : mener une étude