Shame, Guilt and Social Anxiety in Obesity with Binge-Eating Disorder

Binge-eating disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder found in obese people. The present study compared 89 obese participants with and without BED in terms of eating-, weight- and body related shame and guilt and their associaton to self-eestem and social anxiety. The results illustrated that obese people with BED reported higher scores in disorder specific shame and guilt, except feeling shame about their weight and their body; they suffered from lower self-esteem than obese without BED. The results confirmed that self-esteem is a significant statistical predictor of feeling shame. Futhermore obese with BED suffered from social phobia more frequently. The results emphasized the need to consider feelings of shame and guilt and the importance of social anxiety in prevention and therapy of obesity.