Citation

Herzog DB, Staley JE, Carmody S, Robbins WM, van der Kolk BA. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 1993; 32(5): 962-966.

Affiliation

Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8407770

Abstract

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.

Language: en