A psychobiological investigation of binge eating disorder with obese women

Obesity is a serious disorder with increasing prevalence and high mortality rates, and constitutes a salient group of psychiatric disturbances. The aim of the present study was to assess the personality profile of women with binge eating disorder (BED) and to determine whether there were differences in temperament and character between these women and normal-weight healthy controls. The study included 65 obese women [28 with binge eating disorder (BED) and 37 obese without binge eating (non-BED)] according to specific selection criteria and compared to 53 healthy controls. All participants were assessed with two devices- Demographic data form and Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). The TCI is divided into seven independent dimensions. Four of these dimensions assess temperament (Novelty Seeking [NS], Harm Avoidance [HA], Reward Dependence [RD], Persistence [P]) and three of dimensions test character (Self-Directedness [SD], Cooperativeness [C], Self-Transcendence [ST]). The results of the study showed these three groups were different from each other in terms of personality traits. Despite the fact that obese patients with BED and without BED display a similar personality profile, those with BED differ from non-obese controls in Novelty Seeking (NS) and Harm Avoidance (HA) which are higher in BED obese patients. Thus obese binge eaters get easily tired, and suffer from delaying satisfaction than non-obese controls. From the character viewpoint, obese binge eaters show a character profile with low SD, being immature, weak, fragile, irresponsible, than controls. These results support the hypothesis that self directedness seems to be the strongest predictor for the development of BED. These findings were discussed with reference to relevant literature. Future research topics were suggested and therapeutic implications of the study were discussed.Keywords: Obesity, Binge Eating Disorder, Temperament and Character Inventory.