OBJECTIVE:

To study the different factors (external, emotional, cognitive, and physiological) which may trigger binge eating in eating disorder patients and to make a comparison of binge eating triggers in different eating disorder samples, i.e. anorexia nervosa bingeing-purging type and bulimia nervosa (BN).

METHOD:

A total of 242 eating disorder patients filled out the Binge Eating Trigger Checklist (BETCH), a new screening device to evaluate the type of situations (and their experienced discomfort) which subjects identify as antecedents of a binge eating episode.

RESULTS:

Eating disorder patients report a combination of negative emotions, physiological states (urge for sweets) and negative cognitions as most important antecedents for their bingeing episodes. External stimuli were only reported by a small number of patients and provoked significantly lower levels of discomfort. A comparison of binge eating triggers in bingeing anorexia nervosa patients and bulimic patients showed only a few significant differences.

CONCLUSIONS:

Binge eating, as perceived and reported by eating disorder patients, seems to be provoked by a combination of different antecedents, both emotional, cognitive and physiological. Remarkably enough, binge eating triggers did not differ between bingeing anorectic patients and patients suffering from BN.