to date, studies on the relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM) and eating disorders (ED) have never considered binge eating disorder (BED).

Aims a) to assess ToM abilities in a sample of patients suffering from BED comparing them with healthy controls; b) to evaluate the influence of several variables (demographic, clinical and neuropsychological dimensions, attachment styles, traumatic events, comorbid Axis I and II disorders) on ToM abilities.

we assessed ToM in a sample of 20 BED patients and 22 women from the general population using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and the Faux Pas Test (FPT).

regarding the first aim, the comparison between groups showed that the clinical group scored significantly lower than the control group on the RMET as well as on FPT. Regarding the second aim, two different multiple regression models were performed: one for the RMET and one for the FPT. Both of them led to significant results. When modeling RMET score, it emerged that age and Binge Eating Scale significantly reduce the score, while vocabulary and drive for thinness have a positive effect (r2 = 0.62). When modeling FPT score, we found that central coherence and binge eating significantly reduce the total score (r2 = 0.33).

our study begins to shed light on the relationship between ToM and BED; in particular, it suggests that BED patients have lower mentalization skills than healthy controls and ToM abilities are partially influenced by clinical variables related to eating pathology.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.