Dysregulated Sexuality in Women with Eating Disorders: The Role of Childhood Traumatic Experiences

The present study explored the psychopathological, behavioral, and putative biological underpinnings of dysregulated sexuality in eating disorders (EDs), focusing on the role of childhood trauma - evaluated with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). The comparison between Binge-Purging and Restricting patients outlined the predominance of markers of dysregulated sexuality in the first subgroup. In the clinical sample, hypersexuality - measured through the Hypersexual Behavior Inventory (HBI) - was associated with severe psychopathology, emotion dysregulation, childhood trauma, adverse consequences, and higher ghrelin levels. Moderation analyses showed that hypersexuality was associated with emotion dysregulation and psychopathology only in those patients reporting childhood traumatic experiences.