To investigate the relationship between eating problems and dissociati
on, 142 college women completed the Eating Disorders Inventory, the Bu
limia Test, the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Perceptual Alterat
ion Scale, and a demographic information worksheet. The two eating-dis
order inventories were strongly correlated (rs= .71). The two dissocia
tion scales, however, were only moderately correlated (rs= .32), sugge
sting they are measuring different underlying experiences. The pattern
of the correlations of the subscales of the dissociation scales with
the eating disorder scales suggested that cognitive distortions were n
ot as important in the relationship with eating disorders (all correla
tions were less than .21) as were dissociation of feelings and loss of
control (the correlations for eating related subscales ranged as high
as .51). These results were interpreted to suggest that dissociation
of feelings might underlie eating problems. These results indicate the
value of the use of hypnotherapy in working with eating-disordered cl
ients.