Publications by authors named "Irina A Vanzhula"

Background: More than 80% of patients seeking metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) report disturbance in sleep function. No studies have assessed the psychometric properties of sleep measures in MBS samples.

Objectives: This study assessed the reliability and validity of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) in a large sample of patients seeking MBS.

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Introduction: Disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI) are symptom-based disorders categorized by anatomic location but have high overlap and heterogeneity. Viewing DGBI symptoms on a spectrum (i.e.

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Objective: Imaginal exposure is a novel intervention for eating disorders (EDs) that has been investigated as a method for targeting ED symptoms and fears. Research is needed to understand mechanisms of change during imaginal exposure for EDs, including whether within- and between-session distress reduction is related to treatment outcomes.

Method: Study 1 tested four sessions of online imaginal exposure (N = 143).

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Article Synopsis
  • Eating disorders (EDs) are linked to impulsivity and sensitivity to rewards and punishments, which may influence their risk and treatment outcomes, but research is limited.
  • A study involving 228 inpatient ED patients examined the relationship between impulsivity and ED symptoms, revealing that lower impulsivity is seen in anorexia nervosa (restricting type) compared to other ED types, with impulsivity correlating with bulimic symptoms at admission.
  • The findings suggest that while impulsivity can differentiate between ED types, it does not predict treatment success or outcomes, highlighting the need for further research on personality traits in relation to EDs.
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Eating disorders (EDs) are maintained by core fears, which lead to avoidance behaviors, such as food avoidance or compensatory behaviors. Previously tested exposure-based treatments for EDs have generally focused on proximal outcomes (e.g.

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Item selection is a critical decision in modeling psychological networks. The current preregistered two-study research used random selections of 1,000 symptom networks to examine which eating disorder (ED) and co-occurring symptoms are most central in longitudinal networks among individuals with EDs (N = 71, total observations = 6,060) and tested whether centrality changed based on which items were included in the network. Participants completed 2 weeks of ecological momentary assessment (five surveys/day).

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Objective: Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) has similar prevalence to anorexia nervosa (AN) in adults, but research in this population is lacking. Although inpatient or residential treatment involving nutritional rehabilitation is increasingly recommended for malnourished individuals with ARFID, best practices remain poorly defined. Existing studies on self-reported symptomatology and treatment course and outcome are primarily in child and adolescent cohorts and demonstrate inconsistent findings.

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  • The Fear of Food Measure (FOFM) was adapted for adolescents (FOFM-A) to evaluate eating-related anxiety in youth, particularly since eating disorders are prevalent in this age group.
  • The study involved three samples of adolescents aged 11-18, showing that FOFM-A has strong reliability and validity, with good internal consistency and relevant correlations to anxiety and depression measures.
  • Adolescents with eating disorders scored significantly higher on the FOFM-A compared to those without, and a cutoff score of 1.93 effectively distinguishes between these groups, suggesting FOFM-A's potential in assessing and treating eating-related anxiety in adolescents.
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Fear approach is a theorized mechanism of exposure treatment for anxiety-based disorders. However, there are no empirically established self-report instruments measuring the tendency to approach feared stimuli. Because clinical fears are heterogeneous, it is important to create a measure that is adaptable to person- or disorder-specific fears.

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Article Synopsis
  • Treatments for eating disorders (EDs) are only effective for about 50% of adults, partly due to the varied nature of these disorders and a lack of evidence-based options for some diagnoses.
  • A trial with 79 participants tested a 10-session personalized treatment approach that utilizes individual symptom data to tailor therapy, showing high feasibility, acceptability, and initial effectiveness in reducing ED severity.
  • Results indicated significant improvements in ED symptoms and related issues, suggesting that this personalized method could serve as a promising alternative to traditional treatments, warranting further research and randomized controlled trials.
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Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with increased hospitalization rates and worsened symptom severity in patients with eating disorders (ED), but most studies focused exclusively on adolescents. Further, research evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on response to inpatient treatment for ED is limited. This study aimed to compare demographic characteristics, symptom severity at admission, and discharge outcomes for adult and adolescent inpatients with EDs admitted before and after onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Objective: Evaluating treatment efficacy solely on whether sample-level change is statistically significant does not indicate whether clinically significant change (CSC) has occurred at the individual-level. We assessed whether change in measures of eating disorder psychopathology was statistically significant at the sample-level and clinically significant at the individual-level for inpatients treated in a hospital-based eating disorder program.

Method: Participants (N = 143) were consecutive underweight distinct admissions diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or other specified feeding and eating disorder.

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Individuals with eating disorders (EDs) often present with somatic concerns in treatment, such as bloating, fullness, and feeling tight clothes on skin. However, most research generally focuses on general interoception (e.g.

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Purpose: Hypoglycemia, a complication of prolonged starvation, can be life-threatening and is presumed to contribute to the high mortality of anorexia nervosa. Furthermore, early refeeding in severe anorexia nervosa can precipitate paradoxical post-prandial hypoglycemia. Few studies have analyzed the course of hypoglycemia during nutritional rehabilitation in patients with extremely low-weight anorexia nervosa.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The study examined 102 individuals with EDs, identifying central symptoms at both group and individual levels, with key issues like fear of weight gain and guilt being predictive of ED severity over time.
  • * Findings suggest a need for precision treatments targeting specific symptoms, as individual experiences of these symptoms vary widely, highlighting the importance of both group and individual analysis in understanding and treating EDs effectively.
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Mindfulness is a two-component skill that includes mindful awareness (attentional monitoring of present moment experience) and mindful acceptance (adopting an attitude of acceptance toward this experience). Although mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are efficacious for many conditions, there is a lack of research on MBIs for eating disorders (EDs). We propose that MBIs may be promising for EDs given their potential to mobilize not one, but multiple associative-learning change mechanisms in EDs-defined as adaptive processes of change involving one of two forms of associative-learning: Pavlovian and operant learning.

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Background: Eating disorders (ED) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are highly comorbid, but little is known about how this comorbidity is maintained. Prior research suggests that obsessive thoughts and perfectionism may be shared maintenance factors for EDs and OCD.

Methods: The current study used network analysis to (1) identify bridge pathways in an ED-OCD comorbidity network and (2) test if perfectionism symptoms bridge between ED-OCD symptoms in a combined network model including ED, OCD, and Perfectionism symptoms.

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Several studies have identified risk factors that predict future onset of eating disorders (ED) in adolescence, however, it is currently unknown how specific ED symptom dynamics operate both across time and within individuals. Advances in network methodologies allow for the study of how dynamic symptoms interrelate and predict each other within-persons and across time. In the current study, we used longitudinal group-level (N = 1272) (addressing symptom interrelations across people and across time; between-subjects, contemporaneous, and temporal networks) and intra-individual (symptom interrelations within each person and across time; contemporaneous and temporal networks) network analyses (subset n = 50) in prospective 48-month interview data in at-risk adolescents and young adults.

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Interoceptive awareness (IA), or the awareness of internal body states, is known to be impaired in individuals with eating disorders (EDs); however, little is understood about how IA and ED symptoms are connected. Network analysis is a statistical approach useful for examining how symptoms interrelate and how comorbidities may be maintained. The present study used network analysis to (1) test central symptoms within an IA-ED network, (2) identify symptoms that may bridge the association between IA and ED symptoms, and (3) explore whether central and bridge symptoms predict ED remission at discharge from intensive treatment.

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Objective: Eating disorders (EDs) are characterized by significant anxiety during mealtime that contributes to food avoidance and weight loss. Individuals with EDs commonly use avoidance coping (e.g.

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Objective: Mindfulness is implicated in eating disorder (ED) psychopathology. However, this literature has not been synthesized to date. The current meta-analysis examined the associations between mindfulness and ED psychopathology.

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Background: In the past decade, network analysis (NA) has been applied to psychopathology to quantify complex symptom relationships. This statistical technique has demonstrated much promise, as it provides researchers the ability to identify relationships across many symptoms in one model and can identify central symptoms that may predict important clinical outcomes. However, network models are highly influenced by node selection, which could limit the generalizability of findings.

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Evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy for eating disorders includes a component of exposure therapy, which involves patients confronting feared eating and body-related stimuli while preventing safety behaviors. With recent research demonstrating that eating-related fears and safety behaviors are central to eating disorder pathology, there is increased emphasis on improving the efficacy of exposure therapy in eating disorders. Doing so will require a better understanding of important mechanisms of action in this treatment.

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Eating disorders (EDs) often develop during adolescence and early adulthood but may persist, arise, or reemerge across the life span. Research and treatment efforts primarily focus on adolescent and young adult populations, leaving large knowledge gaps regarding ED symptoms across the entire developmental spectrum. The current study uses network analysis to compare central symptoms (i.

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Anxiety is highly characteristic of eating disorders (ED). Despite high levels of anxiety, little is known about ED specific fears. The current study developed and tested the psychometric properties of two measures of ED fears in two samples (N = 513 undergraduates; N = 129 clinical EDs): a self-report measure (Eating Disorder Fear Questionnaire; EFQ) and interview (Eating Disorder Fear Interview; EFI).

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