Table A2.
Overview of stigma content for each eating disorder.
| Anorexia Nervosa (AN) | Bulimia Nervosa (BN) | Binge Eating Disorder (BED) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| STEREOTYPES | |||
| Responsibility | Responsible for their disorder, to blame for their disorder | ||
| Character traits | Self-destructive, dangerous, incompetent, able to pull themselves together, difficult to talk to, attention-seeking | Self-destructive | Larger body, less desirable personality traits than non-BED individuals, |
| Gender attribution | Women | Inconclusive | Men (non-significant) |
| Disorder severity and control | Not a very severe disorder, low level of minimization, low perception of benefits | Little minimization, little perception of benefits, a severe disorder, difficult to treat | |
| Supposed causes Internal |
Lack of self-discipline, desire for attention, vanity | Lacking self-discipline, having low self-esteem | Lacking self-discipline, self-control, and willpower |
| External | Lacking social support and parental support, sociocultural influences (media). | Lacking social support and parental support, sexual abuse, overweight/obesity during childhood/adolescence, sociocultural influences (media). | Lacking social support |
| PREJUDICE | |||
| Emotions involved | Desire to imitate, admiration, attractiveness, irritation, anger, little sympathy, discomfort in interaction | Desire to imitate, sympathy | Negative reactions, greater prejudice for BED than for non-BED individuals |
| DISCRIMINATION | |||
| Behaviors involved | Social distance, reluctance to offer work | Social Distance | Social distance (but not always observed) |
| COMPARISON BETWEEN EDs | |||
| More self-discipline than BN/BED, More distrustful than BED | More to blame for their disorder, more lack of discipline, more self-destructive, less admirable, and less desire for social distance than AN, More severe and more distrustful than BED | More responsible, lacking willpower/self-discipline/control, more negative reactions than AN/BN, but perceived as more attractive and associated with fewer negative character traits and less desire for social distance. No attribution to poor parental support |
|
| COMPARISON WITH OTHER MENTAL DISORDERS | |||
| More responsible but less control, distrust, and desire for social distance than depression or MDE; a longer illness than depression; fewer positive reactions | |||
| More negative assessment; Less intelligent, more driven, more disciplined, more enthusiastic, and less lazy than depression, evoking more anger but also more admiration; Greater lack of social support, parental support, and self-discipline than schizophrenia, but perceived as less dangerous, more able to pull themselves together, their condition is less likely to be attributed to genetic and biological factors, and people feel less discomfort in interaction; More perceived as a psychopathology than ARFID and other eating problems |
More friendly attitudes than depression | More negative assessment; More personal control and less reliable than depression; More perceived as a psychopathology than ARFID and other eating problems; More negative traits and more blame for obesity without BED than obesity with BED |
|
| COMPARISON WITH OTHER PHYSICAL DISORDERS | |||
| Less responsibility but more distrust and more desire for social distance than obesity; more negative assessment; fewer positive reactions | |||
| More able to pull themselves together than asthma; Greater lack of social support, parental support, and self-discipline than asthma and mononucleosis; Condition less likely to be attributed to genetic and biological factors than asthma, mononucleosis, obesity, and skin cancer; More social distance than obesity and skin cancer |
More personal control than type 1 diabetes | ||
| HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS | |||
| Beliefs | Responsible for their condition, manipulative, disrespectful, deceitful, non-compliant with treatment; Fear, stress, anger, exasperation, displeasure, discomfort, frustration, preference to treat other patients, decreased motivation to treat |
||
| Unreliable | |||
| Emotions/behaviors | More reluctance to manage than type 1 diabetes | More negative reaction than cocaine users and healthy athletes | |
Please refer to Section 3.2. “Content of Stigma” in the main text to find relevant references for each cell. Note: ARFID: avoidant restrictive food intake disorder; MDE: major depressive episode.