Exploring meanings and expressions of body uneasiness in eating disorders and gender incongruence

Introduction: Body uneasiness is a core aspect Eating Disorders (ED) as well as Gender Incongruence (GI) (Becker et al., 2016; McLean & Paxton, 2019) and research evidenced a co-occurrence between the two diagnoses (Bandini et al., 2013). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the different ways in which body uneasiness is expressed in subjects with ED vs subjects with GI. Materials and methods: 40 subjects with an ED (AN=27; BN=10; BNG=2; NOS=1) evaluated at treatment onset and 40 transgender participants (35 AFAB; 5 AMAB) at stage T0 of hormonal treatment, completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3) to assess eating symptoms, the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT) to investigate body discomfort and the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200) to measure personality patterns. Results: General severity of body uneasiness was higher in ED subjects, but GI individuals reported higher body image concerns and body avoidance. Different associations between the severity of eating symptomatology and personality features emerged among the two samples. Conclusions: Evaluating expressions and meanings of body uneasiness in subjects with ED and GI is fundamental in order to promote more accurate and clinical useful diagnostic formulations, as well as "tailored" multidisciplinary therapeutic interventions focused on individuals’ specific features.