Affective touch in anorexia nervosa: Exploring the role of social anhedonia and lifespan experiences

Background: The pleasantness of a gentle and slow, namely affective, touch experienced in interpersonal interactions motivates social closeness. In anorexia nervosa (AN), independent evidence suggests lower pleasantness of affective touch, as well as social withdrawal. We aim to probe both the experience of affective touch and its possible association with social anhedonia and lifespan experiences of affective bodily contacts in AN. Methods: The pleasantness of affective and non-affective touch was compared between fourteen women with AN and fourteen healthy women. Stimuli were traditionally delivered with a brush, with the experimenter's hand, as novelty, and with a stick, as control. The pleasantness of imagined and real touch was probed. Self-report questionnaires assessed social anhedonia and lifespan experiences of affective touch. Results: A preserved pleasantness of affective touch emerged in AN in both the imagery and real task, despite higher social anhedonia and less lifespan experience of affective touch than healthy women. Limitations: Affective touch involves loved ones; thus, the experimenter's touch may not resemble real-life interactions. Future research may take advantage of imagery procedures to solve this issue. Conclusions: Body-oriented therapy for AN recognizes touch as a therapeutic tool: ascertaining how touch is experienced is crucial to maximize rehabilitative outcomes. Furthermore, clarifying the possible interplay between interpersonal difficulties in AN and affective touch is especially relevant considering the possible role of the attachment style, which is intensively debated in AN, on affective touch.