Role of Empathy in the Links Between Binge Eating Disorder and Interpersonal Difficulties in the Context of Obesity in a Clinical Population

Obesity has been recognized as a chronic disease by the World Health Organization since 1998. In the Hauts-de-France region, obesity affects 22.1% of adults.

Psychologically, it has been noted that obese individuals may experience intrapersonal difficulties (eating disorders such as binge eating disorder [BED], i.e., bulimia nervosa) and interpersonal difficulties, such as empathy disorders. Empathy is generally defined as a multidimensional concept, comprising two dimensions known as "cognitive" (decoding emotion) and "affective" (sharing emotion).

Empathic skills are significantly weaker in obese adults than in adults of normal weight. However, only ten studies were included in this research, and only two studies focused on affective empathy. In addition, the methodologies were highly heterogeneous (experimental tasks, self-assessment questionnaires). Therefore, the investigators believe it is essential to examine the links between obesity, cognitive empathy, and affective empathy in the adult population using a mixed methodology based on an experimental task and questionnaires. In addition, the investigators wish to examine the role of BED in explaining possible empathy disorders associated with obesity. Finally, the investigators wish to better understand the links between empathy difficulties and interpersonal difficulties.