Publications by authors named "Almut Zeeck"

Article Synopsis
  • Patients with eating disorders (EDs) often engage in excessive physical activity (pathological exercise, PE) for mood regulation, which can have harmful health effects; however, non-exercise activity (NEA) has potential as a positive intervention.
  • A study of 29 ED patients and 35 healthy controls over seven days found that NEA improved mood dimensions like valence and energetic arousal, although effects were stronger in healthy individuals compared to those with EDs.
  • The findings suggest NEA can benefit mood, particularly when PE levels are lower, indicating that NEA interventions could be effective in helping ED patients manage negative emotions in daily life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Links between premorbid physical activity (PA) and disease onset/course in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) remain unclear. The aim was to assess self-reported PA as a predictor of change in percent median BMI (%mBMI) and length of hospital stay (LOS). Five PA domains were assessed via semi-structured interview in adolescents with AN at hospitalization: premorbid PA in school grades 1-6 (PA1-6); PA before AN onset (PA-pre) and after AN onset (PA-post); new, pathological motivation for PA (PA-new); and high intensity PA (PA-high).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Improvement in the capacity to mentalize (i.e., reflective functioning/RF) is considered both, an outcome variable as well as a possible change mechanism in psychotherapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

It is generally assumed that psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) differ in terms of applied techniques and processes. To date, however, little is known about whether and how such differences can actually be observed at a basic linguistic level and in what the two treatment approaches differ most strongly (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Previously established categories for the classification of disease courses of unipolar depressive disorder (relapse, remission, recovery, recurrence) are helpful, but insufficient in describing the naturalistic disease courses over time. The intention of the present study was to identify frequent disease courses of depression by means of a cluster analysis.

Methods: For the longitudinal cluster analysis, 555 datasets of patients who participated in the INDDEP (INpatient and Day clinic treatment of DEPression) study, were used.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Previous research has shown a robust association between sudden gains (SGs) and treatment outcome in psychotherapy for various mental disorders including anorexia nervosa (AN). However, little is known about factors contributing to SGs. This study investigated the role of general change mechanisms in body-weight related SGs in AN.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Improvement in patients' mentalizing capacities is considered a possible mechanism of change in psychotherapy. This improvement might take place via mentalization-enhancing interventions (MEIs) performed by psychotherapists. The study aimed to explore the use of MEIs in two evidence-based psychotherapeutic treatments for patients with anorexia nervosa (enhanced cognitive-behavior therapy, focal psychodynamic therapy) and their association with the patients' capacity to mentalize in sessions ("in-session reflective functioning" / in-session RF).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Previous research suggests that patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) show an impaired capacity to mentalize (reflective functioning, RF). RF is discussed as a possible predictor of outcome in psychotherapeutic processes. The study aimed to explore RF in sessions of patients with AN and its association with outcome and type of treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The understanding of the cerebral neurobiology of anorexia nervosa (AN) with respect to state- versus trait-related abnormalities is limited. There is evidence of restitution of structural brain alterations with clinical remission. However, with regard to functional brain abnormalities, this issue has not yet been clarified.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Previous diffusion tensor imaging studies reported a reduced fractional anisotropy in the body of the corpus callosum in patients with anorexia nervosa, which may indicate impaired white matter integrity in interhemispheric connections. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether structural connectivity is affected in patients with anorexia nervosa.

Method: To this end, we compared the number of streamlines (a model of the white matter fibre tracts) and the total volume filled by these streamlines in different subsections of the corpus callosum in 33 women with and 33 without anorexia nervosa as well as in 20 recovered individuals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Anorexia nervosa is a serious illness leading to substantial morbidity and mortality. The Anorexia Nervosa Treatment of Outpatients (ANTOP) study is the largest randomised controlled trial (RCT) globally that uses psychotherapy in outpatients with anorexia nervosa. In this Article, we report the results of the 5-year follow-up.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Many preventive approaches in dentistry aim to improve oral health through behavioural instruction or intervention concerning oral health behaviour. However, it is still unknown which factors have the highest impact on oral health behaviours, such as toothbrushing or regular dental check-ups. Various external and internal individual factors such as education, experience with dentists or influence by parents could be relevant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: It is commonly agreed, that Behavioral Addictions are accompanied by mental disorders and are still underdiagnosed. The multicenter cross-sectional study aimed at estimating the prevalence of Behavioral Addictions in a consecutive sample of patients seeking treatment for mental disorders other than Behavioral Addiction.

Methods: The study included 801 patients from eight psychosomatic university hospitals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Early relapse after inpatient treatment is a serious problem in the management of anorexia nervosa (AN). Specialized aftercare interventions have the potential to bridge the gap between inpatient and outpatient care, to prevent relapse and to improve the long-term outcome for patients with AN.

Methods: Following the guidelines of the PRISMA statement, we conducted a systematic review, synthesizing the evidence from randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the efficacy of post-inpatient aftercare treatments for AN.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Aim of the pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a day hospital program for eating disorders (EDs) after implementation of mentalization-based treatment (MBT), including a comparison to a historical matched control group.

Method: All consecutively admitted patients with an ED were included in a prospective, observational study over a period of 2 years. Main outcome criteria were eating and overall psychopathology.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: A major barrier to long-term recovery from anorexia nervosa (AN) are early and frequent relapses after inpatient treatment. There is an urgent need for enhanced continuity of specialized care involving effective aftercare interventions and relapse prevention strategies in order to improve the long-term outcome for patients with AN.

Methods: SUSTAIN is a multi-center, prospective, randomized-controlled trial investigating the efficacy of a novel post-inpatient aftercare intervention for patients with AN as compared to optimized treatment-as-usual (TAU-O).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To date, there is only a limited number of studies evaluating the implementation and effects of treatment guidelines. Therefore, this study aimed to determine how many patients diagnosed with a major depression were treated in compliance with the German treatment guideline after hospital treatment, and whether a deviation from the guideline resulted in a less favorable development.

Methods: Five hundred two patients, which originally participated in the INDDEP-study, were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies report impaired functional correlates of cognition and emotion in mental disorders. The validity of preexisting studies needs to be confirmed through replication studies, which there is a lack of. So far, most replication studies have been conducted on non-patients (NP) and primarily investigated cognitive and motor tasks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Freiburg sport therapy program for individuals with eating disorders, focusing on reducing unhealthy exercise behaviors as its primary metric.
  • Participants were divided into a sports therapy group and a waiting list control group, with outcomes assessed at the start, end of the intervention, and a 6-month follow-up; however, recruitment of participants proved difficult.
  • While there were no significant differences overall in unhealthy exercise attitudes between groups, the sports therapy group did show improved behaviors, but the small sample size limits the conclusions that can be drawn from these results.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Physical activity (PA) plays a role in the course of anorexia nervosa (AN).

Objective: To assess the association between PA, nutritional status and psychological parameters in patients with AN.

Method: Using a wearable activity monitor, PA was assessed in 60 female AN inpatients, by step count and time spent in 4 metabolic equivalent (MET)-intensity levels: sedentary behaviour, light, moderate and vigorous PA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: An insular involvement in the pathogenesis of anorexia nervosa (AN) has been suggested in many structural and functional neuroimaging studies. This magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) study is the first to investigate metabolic signals in the anterior insular cortex in patients with AN and recovered individuals (REC).

Method: The MR spectra of 32 adult women with AN, 21 REC subjects and 33 healthy controls (HC) were quantified for absolute N-acetylaspartate (NAA), glutamate + glutamine (Glx), total choline, myo-inositol, creatine concentrations (mM/L).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim of the study was to identify patient variables that predict specific patterns of symptom course during and after hospital treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). In a sample of 518 patients, four pairs of clinically relevant patterns of symptom change were contrasted. The time points of measurement were admission, discharge, 3 and 12 month after discharge.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Several therapeutic treatments like individual psychotherapy, group therapy, creative therapies and talks with the nursing staff are components in an inpatient psychosomatic (psychotherapeutic) treatment or a psychosomatic day hospital treatment. In Germany, these therapies have to be documented by the administration with so called OPS-Codes. These codes are reported to the Institute for Reimbursement in Hospitals (InEK).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Remission rates after treatment for bulimia nervosa can be considered insufficient. The study aimed to explore the perspective of expert psychotherapists on possible reasons for non-response and recommendations for an optimized treatment. Experts filled in a questionnaire that comprised questions about possible reasons for low remission rates as well as ratings of interventions suggested for different treatment phases and subgroups of patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF