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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Eating Behavior
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1432011
This article is part of the Research Topic Challenges in Eating Behavior View all 5 articles

“I feel so small and big at the same time” - Exploring body exp​​erience and binge eating disorder following inpatient treatment: a qualitative study

Provisionally accepted
Helene Tinderholt Olsen Helene Tinderholt Olsen 1Sunniva B. Vangen Sunniva B. Vangen 1Line I. Stänicke Line I. Stänicke 1,2Karianne Vrabel Karianne Vrabel 1,3*
  • 1 University of Oslo, Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  • 2 Lovisenberg Diakonale Sykehus, Oslo, Oslo, Norway
  • 3 Modum Bad Psychiatric Center, Vikersund, Norway

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Limited research on Binge Eating Disorder (BED), low treatment rate and a lack of treatment rights, reflects a marginalised disorder in society and a treatment context.The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the psychopathology of BED, by exploring the patients' meaning related to the disorder and the role of the body in treatment of BED. Method: Qualitative methodology through reflexive thematic analysis.The data material is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews of six cis-gendered women who previously completed an inpatient treatment program for BED at a department for EDs and met the criteria for 307.51 Binge Eating Disorder in DSM-5. Results: The qualitative analysis rendered two meta themes with six themes and 12 subthemes. The first meta theme was "Relational challenges and feelings could not be talked about at home". The secondary meta theme was "Body contempt disturbs the experience of self and others" and the third was "Their body has not been a theme in previous treatment". This categorisation depicts a story of the disorder in terms of development, current condition, and experiences with prior treatment. Discussion: The findings indicate that shame and disgust are central play pivotal roles in the embodiment of BED, highlighting the significance of addressing one's relationship with their body for achieving recovery and to prevent an experienced repetition of the perceived rejection as a child.

    Keywords: Binge eating, Eating Disorder, Qualitative, Treatment experience, Body experience

    Received: 13 May 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tinderholt Olsen, Vangen, Stänicke and Vrabel. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Karianne Vrabel, University of Oslo, Oslo, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.