Exploring body uneasiness in severe and enduring eating disorders: insights from clinical practice.

Introduction: Body uneasiness is a central facet of body image disturbances observed in individuals with eating disorders (EDs). This study aimed to address gaps in understanding body uneasiness in severe and enduring eating disorders (SE-EDs) and explore variations in psychopathology between individuals with different durations of the disorder. We hypothesized that patients with SE-ED might develop habitual behaviors that contribute to ambivalence toward treatment and the persistence of symptoms.

Vitamin D Status and Behavioral Impulsivity in Anorexia Nervosa: Insights from a Longitudinal Study.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric disorder marked by extreme weight control behaviors and significant impacts on physical and psychosocial health. This study explores the relationship between vitamin D (Vit-D) levels and impulsivity in women with AN. Forty-six cisgender White women participants were assessed upon admission and before discharge from a specialized eating disorder treatment center, with an average duration of 2.

Enhancing emotional abilities in anorexia nervosa treatment: A rolling-group cognitive remediation and emotional skills training protocol.

Introduction: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterised by limited remission rates and emotional dimensions are often neglected. Cognitive remediation and emotional skills training (CREST) protocol aims to address cognitive and emotional factors. This study evaluates the feasibility and effectiveness of a modified rolling-group CREST protocol in an inpatient setting.

The loneliness factor in eating disorders: Implications for psychopathology and biological signatures.

Objectives: Eating disorders (ED) are severe psychiatric conditions. While the biological consequences of EDs are well established, including an increase in inflammatory biomarkers, the influence of psychological factors, such as loneliness, has only recently gained attention in research. Loneliness has been associated with more severe psychopathology in ED patients, while its association with inflammatory biomarkers has only been explored in the general population.

Tuning in to recovery: influence of music on emotional well-being during mealtime in inpatient facilities for eating disorders.

Background: In rehabilitating eating disorders (ED), mealtimes are critical but often induce stress, both for restrictive and binge-purge disorders. Although preliminary data indicate a positive effect of music during mealtime, few studies employ an experimental approach. This study examines the influence of background music during mealtime in an inpatient ward setting, offering a real-world perspective.

Predictors of psychopathology response in atypical anorexia nervosa following inpatient treatment: A propensity score matching study of weight suppression and weight loss speed.

Introduction: This study examines weight suppression (WS) and weight loss speed (WLS) in atypical anorexia nervosa (AN) and its implications for treatment outcomes, compared to people with AN and bulimia nervosa (BN).

Method: A mixed cross-sectional and prospective design was employed, assessing WS and WLS in people with atypical AN, AN, and BN. Participants were matched for age, gender, age of onset, and disorder duration.

Bodily self-recognition and body size overestimation in restrictive anorexia nervosa: implicit and explicit mechanisms.

It is widely known that among others, a pervasive symptom characterizing anorexia nervosa (AN) concerns body image overestimation, which largely contributes to the onset and maintenance of eating disorders. In the present study, we investigated the nature of the body image distortion by recording accuracy and reaction times in both a group of healthy controls and AN patients during two validated tasks requiring an implicit or explicit recognition of self/other hand stimuli, in which the perceived size of the stimuli was manipulated. Our results showed that (1) the perceived size of hand stimuli modulated both the implicit and explicit processing of body parts in both groups; (2) the implicit self-advantage emerged in both groups, but the bodily self, at an explicit level (perceptual, psycho-affective, cognitive) together with the integration and the distinction between self and other, was altered only in restrictive anorexia patients.

Linguistic embodiment in typical and atypical anorexia nervosa: Evidence from an image-word matching task.

Objective: The integration of sensory, motor, and cognitive systems is embodied cognition, according to which mind and body are not separate and distinct, and our body (and our brain, as part of the body) contributes to determining our mental and cognitive processes. In spite of limited data available, Anorexia nervosa (AN) appears as a condition in which embodied cognition is altered, in particular, if we consider bodily sensations and visuospatial information processing. We aimed to evaluate the ability to correctly identify body parts and actions in both full (AN) and atypical AN (AAN), looking at the role of the underweight status.

Preparing for the next pandemic by understanding the impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on patients with eating Disorders: observations from an inpatient setting.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed eating disorder (ED) services worldwide. Data suggests a worsening of psychopathology and an increased request for specialised treatments. Still, the studies are mostly based on experimental protocols with underpowered short-term opportunistic experimental designs.

The influence of front-of-pack nutritional labels on eating and purchasing behaviors: a narrative review of the literature.

Background: Front-of-Pack Nutritional Labels are considered a useful tool to help consumers orient themselves in their food choices and direct their behavior toward a healthier diet. FOPNL development and use are part of a framework that includes cognitive, biological, hedonic and cultural aspects, able to affect consumers' eating and purchasing behavior.

Aim: Given the complexity of the matter, the aim of this narrative review is to analyze the combination of different factors that drive food choices and eating behaviors and to highlight some aspects that are not fully studied.

Understanding dropout and non-participation in follow-up evaluation for the benefit of patients and research: evidence from a longitudinal observational study on patients with eating disorders.

Treatment outcomes in eating disorders (EDs) are still an open field for clinicians and researchers. Besides difficulties in egosyntonic-linked treatment engagements, dropout is one of the most crucial elements that cause a reduction in the treatment efficacy. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate factors that could contribute to high dropout rates and non-participation in follow-up evaluation in patients with ED.

Compulsive exercise in eating disorders: Validation of the Italian scale and evaluation of its relationships with body image concerns and quality of life.

Background: Compulsive exercise (CE) has been proposed as one of the maladaptive elements that might concur to developing and maintaining an eating disorder (ED), even if no conclusive consensus is yet available. This study evaluates the psychometric properties of the Compulsive Exercise Test (CET), the questionnaire most frequently discussed in the literature. Our second aim is to evaluate the relationships between CE, quality of life, and different body concerns in a group of individuals.

Time evaluation and its accuracy in eating disorders: differences in relation to interoceptive awareness.

Purpose: Time evaluation has been poorly studied in eating disorder (ED) patients despite its relationship with body awareness, which is a core psychopathological feature in EDs and is influenced by impulsivity, interoception, and working memory. This study aims to evaluate time estimation and its accuracy across the ED spectrum in connection with specific and general psychopathology.

Methods: A group of 215 women was enrolled in a computerized task involving the estimation of 1-min intervals.

Urinary free cortisol and childhood maltreatments in eating disorder patients: New evidence for an ecophenotype subgroup.

Introduction: Increasing neurobiological evidence has suggested the presence of a specific ecophenotype in people with eating disorders (EDs) linked to early maltreatment. Urinary-free cortisol could strengthen the data and show specific relationships between maltreated subtypes and the hormonal profiles of patients with EDs. This study aims to evaluate the presence of different urinary cortisol in drug-free patients in the acute phase of the disorder and its relationship with childhood maltreatment.

How Is the History of Early Traumatic Exposure Associated With the Psychopathological Outcomes of COVID-19 Related Lockdown and Subsequent Re-opening in People With Eating Disorders?

The negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on people with Eating Disorders (EDs) has been documented. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a history of traumatic experiences during childhood or adolescence was associated with a higher degree of psychopathological worsening during COVID-19 related lockdown and in the following re-opening period in this group of people. People with EDs undergoing a specialist ED treatment in different Italian services before the spreading of COVID-19 pandemic ( = 312) filled in an online survey to retrospectively evaluate ED specific and general psychopathology changes after COVID-19 quarantine.

A Multi-Faceted Evaluation of Impulsivity Traits and Early Maladaptive Schemas in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa.

(1) Background: patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) are classified either as restrictive (ANr) or binge/purge (ANbp) according to the absence or presence of impulsive eating and compensatory behaviors. The aim of the present study was to assess the levels of impulsivity in both AN subtypes and to explore whether individual differences in impulsivity may be explained by differences in the presence of early maladaptive schemas. (2) Methods: the sample group included 122 patients with ANr, 112 patients with ANbp, and 131 healthy women (HW).

Impulsivity and eating disorders: The relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and different impulsivity facets in a transdiagnostic sample.

Objectives: Eating disorders (EDs) are severe psychiatric conditions characterised by malnutrition, dysfunctional behaviours, and hypovitaminosis D. In various psychiatric conditions, including EDs, preliminary evidence has correlated impulsivity to a low level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. This study aims to reinforce this evidence by examining different facets, both behavioural and psychological, of the impulsivity construct in patients with ED.

Alexithymia, dissociation and emotional regulation in eating disorders: Evidence of improvement through specialized inpatient treatment.

The research into emotional regulation in eating disorders (EDs) has shown specific impairments and maladaptive coping strategies in patients, and there is an increasing interest in the role of the emotional domain in the treatment outcome. This study aims to evaluate the effect of a specialized inpatient treatment characterized by both an intensive and comprehensive standardized multidisciplinary programme based on cognitive-behavioural therapy and a flexible and personalized component implemented by third-wave interventions. A cohort of 67 female ED patients (anorexia nervosa = 28, bulimia nervosa = 28 and binge eating disorder = 11) underwent an evaluation of emotional regulation difficulties, alexithymia and dissociative symptomatology at admission to a specialized ED ward.

Cognitive remediation therapy for anorexia nervosa as a rolling group intervention: Data from a longitudinal study in an eating disorders specialized inpatient unit.

Objective: Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) has been proposed as an add-on treatment approach that could increase the engagement in treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN) patients and reduce maintaining factors, but prior studies have evaluated CRT in individual and group settings, difficult protocols for rehabilitation settings. Our aim is to evaluate the CRT rolling protocol implementation in an inpatient specialised unit.

Methods: A historical longitudinal controlled study was designed to include 31 AN patients for the CRT program, and 28 AN patients treated as usual.

Associations Between Trauma, Early Maladaptive Schemas, Personality Traits, and Clinical Severity in Eating Disorder Patients: A Clinical Presentation and Mediation Analysis.

: The literature has shown a significant association between traumatic experiences and eating psychopathology, showing a greater symptomatology in patients with trauma history. Less is known about the associations between trauma and cognitive schemas, and personality traits and the differences between childhood and adulthood trauma experiences. Thus, this paper aims to assess the clinical and psychological characteristics of eating disorder (ED) patients, looking for differences between patients without a history of trauma and patients with trauma experiences, as well as at possible differences between exposure in childhood, adulthood, or repeated events.

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown and of the following "re-opening" period on specific and general psychopathology in people with Eating Disorders: the emergent role of internalizing symptoms.

Background: We assessed the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on specific Eating Disorder (ED) and general psychopathology in people with an ED diagnosis during the lockdown period and after the end of the related containment measures.

Methods: People with clinically defined diagnosis and undergoing treatment for an ED completed an online survey, which included adapted questions from standardized psychometric scales. Data relative to three different time periods (before, during and after the end of lockdown) were collected.

Risk and resilience factors for specific and general psychopathology worsening in people with Eating Disorders during COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective Italian multicentre study.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions had negative impact on the psychopathology of people with Eating Disorders (EDs). Factors involved in the vulnerability to stressful events have been under-investigated in this population. We aimed to assess which factors contributed to COVID-19-induced worsening in both general and specific psychopathology.