Which factors do provoke binge eating? An exploratory study in eating disorder patients.

OBJECTIVE

To study the different factors (external, emotional, cognitive, and physiological) which may trigger binge eating in eating disorder patients and to make a comparison of binge eating triggers in different eating disorder samples, i.e. anorexia nervosa bingeing-purging type and bulimia nervosa (BN).

METHOD: A total of 242 eating disorder patients filled out the Binge Eating Trigger Checklist (BETCH), a new screening device to evaluate the type of situations (and their experienced discomfort) which subjects identify as antecedents of a binge eating episode.

RESULTS

Eating disorder patients report a combination of negative emotions, physiological states (urge for sweets) and negative cognitions as most important antecedents for their bingeing episodes. External stimuli were only reported by a small number of patients and provoked significantly lower levels of discomfort. A comparison of binge eating triggers in bingeing anorexia nervosa patients and bulimic patients showed only a few significant differences.

CONCLUSIONS

Binge eating, as perceived and reported by eating disorder patients, seems to be provoked by a combination of different antecedents, both emotional, cognitive and physiological. Remarkably enough, binge eating triggers did not differ between bingeing anorectic patients and patients suffering from BN.