ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a meta-view of the professional literature regarding the link between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders. Most eating disorder researchers and clinicians ignore or deny any relationship between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders. While in recent years scholarly and clinical reports have begun to recognize the high rates of childhood sexual abuse history amongst eating disorder sufferers, a fierce debate still rages amongst eating disorder experts over the correlation. At the same time, in recent decades the association between eating disorders and childhood trauma has been increasingly recognized. This chapter presents the rates of correlation between childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders, discusses research and clinical assessments, and explores the theoretical and clinical explanations adduced in the literature.
