Influence of fears of compassion on body image shame and disordered eating
Abstract
Purpose The current study tested a path model examining the impact of fears of compassion in the adoption of disordered eating and whether social safeness and body shame would mediate this relationship.Methods Participants were 645 women (aged between 18 and 55) from the general community, who completed an online survey.Results Results indicated that fears of compassion were negatively associated with one's ability to feel secure and safe within close relationships, and positively linked with higher levels of body shame and disordered eating. The tested model accounted for 62% of the variance of disordered eating. Path analyses results revealed that the three dimensions of fears of compassion impacted on disordered eating. Particularly, fear of expressing compassion for others presented a direct impact on disordered eating. Moreover, fears of self-compassion and fears of receiving compassion from others partially impacted on disordered eating attitudes and behaviours, through the mechanisms of social safeness and body image-focused shame. These findings suggested that women who present higher levels of fear of self-compassion and of receiving signs of affection and compassion from others tend to feel more insecure in their social group, which seem explain body shame and the engagement in disordered eating behaviours.Conclusions This study highlights the pathogenic impact of fears of compassion on body image and eating attitudes and behaviours. The current data seem to offer relevant insights for research and clinical practice, by supporting the relevance of developing compassionate abilities and attitudes to target body image and eating-related difficulties.
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People with SE-AN may experience the receipt of compassion as painful, frightening, and untrustworthy, which may be related to histories of trauma and ruptured attachment.
“We may experience the receipt of compassion as painful, frightening, and untrustworthy [176, 177] which may be related to histories of trauma and ruptured attachment [178–180].”
From A lived experience response to the proposed diagnosis of terminal anorexia nervosa: learning from iatrogenic harm, ambivalence and enduring hope (2023) · cites this paper as [176]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Dias, B. S., Ferreira, C., & Trindade, I. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Coimbra (PT)
- Corresponding author
- Trindade, Inês A.
- Venue
- Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity
- Published
- 2018-06-07
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 99-106
- ISSN
- 1124-4909 (ISSN-L)
- 1590-1262
- OpenAlex
- W2806979963
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 6.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia Bulimia and Obesity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- fear of self-compassion, disordered eating, social safeness, women, compassion-focused therapy
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Body Image, Empathy, Fear, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Models, Psychological, Self Concept, Shame, Young Adult
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