Similarities and Differences of Neuropsychological Profiles in Children and Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa and Healthy Controls Using Cluster and Discriminant Function Analyses.

Objective: This study aimed to identify discrete neuropsychological profiles and their relationship to clinical symptoms in 253 female children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) and 170 healthy controls (HCs) using a standardised neuropsychological assessment battery.

Method: Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify the optimum number of clusters, and participants were assigned using K-means cluster analysis. Confirmatory discriminant function analysis determined which combination of neuropsychological variables best distinguished the clusters.

The use of cognitive remediation therapy on a child adolescent eating disorder unit: Patients and therapist perspectives.

Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) is an intervention for anorexia nervosa (AN) that focuses on ameliorating the neuropsychological inefficiencies that underlie the illness. The current literature has reported promising results regarding its efficacy as an intervention for AN. However, there is a scarcity of studies considering the implementation of CRT in a child and adolescent population.

Quality of friendships and motivation to change in adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa.

This study explored the relationship between quality of friendships, motivation to change and peer support among young people receiving inpatient treatment for Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Thirty participants were recruited from three inpatient wards. Questionnaires assessed motivational stage, friendship functions and characteristics of friendships specific to AN.

Deconstructing Planning Ability in Children and Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa.

Weaknesses in planning by patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) have been noted (e.g., Zakzanis, Campbell, & Polsinelli, 2010 ) and are generally based on adults.

Metabolic Control and Illness Perceptions in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes.

Background: Disturbed eating behavior and psychosocial variables have been found to influence metabolic control, but little is known about how these variables interact or how they influence metabolic control, separately and combined.

Objective: To explore associations between metabolic control (measured by HbA1c) and eating disorder psychopathology, coping strategies, illness perceptions, and insulin beliefs in adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Methods: A total of 105 patients (41.

Age-Related Performance on the Brixton Spatial Anticipation Test in Healthy Child and Adolescent Girls: A Preliminary Evaluation.

The Brixton Spatial Anticipation Test assesses individuals' cognitive flexibility in terms of rule detection and attainment. It has been used to assess executive functioning in both clinical and nonclinical adult samples. However, little is currently known about the suitability of this task for younger populations.

Are poor set-shifting abilities associated with a higher frequency of body checking in anorexia nervosa?

Background: The rigid and obsessional features of anorexia nervosa (AN) have led researchers to explore possible underlying neuropsychological difficulties. Numerous studies have demonstrated poorer set-shifting in patients with AN. However, due to a paucity of research on the connection between neuropsychological difficulties and the clinical features of AN, the link remains hypothetical.

In the parents' view: weight perception accuracy, disturbed eating patterns and mental health problems among young adolescents.

Background: An accurate weight perception has been associated with motivation to change eating habits in the case of under- or overweight. However, recent studies have reported frequent misperceptions among parents and their offspring, both in the form of under- and overestimation of weight status. The aim of the present study was to investigate weight perception accuracy among parents of young adolescents in relation to reports on disturbed eating patterns and mental health problems.

Memory versus perception of body size in patients with anorexia nervosa and healthy controls.

The objective of this study was to compare body size estimation based on memory versus perception, in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and healthy controls, adjusting for possible confounders. Seventy-one women (AN: 37, controls: 35), aged 14-29 years, were assessed with a computerized body size estimation morphing program. Information was gathered on depression, anxiety, time since last meal, weight and height.

Central coherence, organizational strategy, and visuospatial memory in children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

The vast majority of studies in anorexia nervosa that have investigated the domains of central coherence, organizational strategy, and visuospatial memory have focused on adult samples. In addition, studies investigating visuospatial memory have focused on free recall. No study to date has reported the association between recognition memory and central coherence or organizational strategy in younger people with this disorder, yet the capacity to recognize previously seen visual stimuli may contribute to overall visuospatial ability.

Patient and parental self-reports of executive functioning in a sample of young female adolescents with anorexia nervosa before and after cognitive remediation therapy.

Objective: Previous studies assessing the potency of cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) have largely focused on performance-based assessments and how these change during the course of the intervention. Little is known of behavioural manifestations of such changes, and no previous studies have studied parental reports before and after CRT.

Method: Patient and parental self-reports of executive function using the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) were obtained for 17 adolescent patients in treatment for anorexia nervosa before and after CRT.

Family cognitive remediation therapy for anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) in childhood and adolescence has a poor prognosis. It is possible that this may in part be due to the fact that cognitive weaknesses that appear to be risk factors for its development and maintenance are not being targeted in treatment. Through its focus on these deficits, cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) has been shown to be a promising intervention for AN.

Neuropsychological functioning in adolescents with anorexia nervosa before and after cognitive remediation therapy: a feasibility trial.

Objective: To investigate neuropsychological functioning in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) before and after receiving cognitive remediation therapy (CRT).

Method: Twenty young females with AN participated in an individually-delivered CRT treatment program. Neuropsychological and psychiatric assessments were administered before and after treatment.

Pervasive refusal syndrome (PRS) 21 years on: a re-conceptualisation and a renaming.

Twenty-one years ago, Lask and colleagues first described pervasive refusal syndrome (PRS) as a child's "dramatic social withdrawal and determined refusal to walk, talk, eat, drink, or care for themselves in any way for several months" in the absence of an organic explanation. PRS has been conceptualised in a variety of ways since then. These have included a form of post-traumatic stress disorder, learnt helplessness, 'lethal mothering', loss of the internal parent, apathy or the 'giving-up' syndrome, depressive devitalisation, primitive 'freeze', severe loss of activities of daily living and 'manipulative' illness, meaning the possibility that the children have been drugged to increase chances of asylum in asylum-seeking families.

Developing and evaluating cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) for adolescents with anorexia nervosa: a feasibility study.

Background: Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) aims at improving neuropsychological weaknesses and associated thinking styles in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). It has only recently been developed for adolescents with AN, and evidence of its applicability for this particular patient group is limited. This study aimed to test the feasibility of individually tailored and delivered CRT for young females with AN.

Verbal fluency in anorexia nervosa.

Verbal fluency performance is commonly evaluated in clinical neuropsychology, in particular for assessment of executive functioning. Fluency is usually assessed by the person's ability to produce as many words as possible from a given cue within a specific timeframe. The cues are typically phonemic, e.

Season of birth bias and bulimia nervosa--results from a multi-centre collaboration.

Background: Season of birth bias has been observed for people with a number of disorders, including women with bulimia nervosa. However, inconsistent results and methodological weaknesses render previous conclusions about such bias uncertain. With an enhanced methodology, this study aims to test whether there is a season of birth bias for women with bulimia nervosa.

Season of birth bias and anorexia nervosa: results from an international collaboration.

Objective: Based on inconsistent findings in the literature, this study tested the hypothesis that "there is a season of birth bias for females with anorexia nervosa (AN)."

Method: Females with AN, born in 1975 to 1996, were compared to females born in the same years and geographical regions by chi-square test for contingency tables with known population parameter testing for monthly deviations. Five groups were based on a priori power calculation and geographical location: Iceland, Norway and Sweden (N = 847), United Kingdom (N = 706), Oregon, USA (N = 394), Argentina and Brazil (N = 486), and Australia (N = 381).

The neuropsychological profile of children, adolescents, and young adults with anorexia nervosa.

The neuropsychological profile of a sample of 155 patients with a clinical diagnosis of anorexia nervosa was assessed using a test battery specifically developed for such patients. The current findings suggest that the patients display a common neuropsychological profile including both strengths and weaknesses when compared with published norms. The patients displayed good verbal fluency skills, but performed poorly on tests of visuospatial memory, associated with relatively weak central coherence.

Anorexia nervosa--a noradrenergic dysregulation hypothesis.

Anorexia nervosa manifests a wide range of features which cannot fully be explained on the basis of socio-cultural pressures to be thin, nor by starvation, nor dehydration. Evidence is emerging of a significant neurobiological contribution to its aetiology. However there has to date been no explanation for its pathogenesis that integrates the previously identified genetic, neurobiological and socio-cultural contributing factors.

Neurobiological status at initial presentation predicts neuropsychological functioning in early onset anorexia nervosa at four-year follow up.

This study explores whether neurobiological status (indexed by regional cerebral blood flow) at initial presentation predicts neuropsychological status at four-year follow up in a sample of children with early onset anorexia nervosa. Neuropsychological assessment was conducted on 15 females four years after their initial treatment, and matched controls. At follow up there were significant differences between subgroups (based on neurobiological status at initial presentation) and matched controls in long-term visual memory and cognitive inhibition.

Nibbling: frequency and relationship to BMI, pattern of eating, and shape, weight, and eating concerns among university women.

Objective: Nibbling has been defined by the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE 16.0) as eating in an unplanned and repetitious manner between meals and snacks without an accompanying sense of loss of control. We investigated the nature and frequency of nibbling in young women.

An examination of the ravello profile--a neuropsychological test battery for anorexia nervosa.

The Ravello Profile test battery was developed to ensure a consistent methodology when researching neuropsychological functioning in anorexia nervosa (AN). To date, 157 patients with AN have been assessed with the full Ravello Profile. The present review is the first study to systematically investigate the tests included in the battery.

History of eating disorder in mothers of children with early onset eating disorder or disturbance.

The literature suggests that there is significant familial aggregation of eating disorders. A specific association has also been reported between childhood feeding problems and maternal eating disorder. This study investigates whether subgroups of children with early onset eating disturbance are distinguished by maternal eating disorder history.

Convergent validity of the eating disorder examination and the eating disorder examination-questionnaire among university women in Norway.

The present study compared the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE; 16.0) and the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q; 6.0) and investigated the psychometric properties of the Norwegian translation of the EDE.