Publications by authors named "Ralph-Nearman C"
Article Synopsis
- Individuals with eating disorders often exercise despite potential long-term negative impacts, but it may temporarily reduce symptoms.
- A new method was used to analyze how exercise affects the relationship between different eating disorder symptoms in 102 people over several days.
- The findings suggest that exercise can lessen the influence of certain ED symptoms on each other, and indicate a need for further research on the long-term effects of exercise in treating eating disorders.
Article Synopsis
- Eating disorders are serious mental health issues that cause significant suffering, high illness rates, and increased mortality, highlighting the urgent need for scientific advancements in this relatively new field of study.* -
- The paper focuses on three key areas of research: diversity and inclusion, systemic and social factors, and treatment personalization, all of which have the potential to improve the understanding of eating disorders and enhance treatment outcomes.* -
- The authors advocate for further research in these areas and outline their vision for the future of the eating disorder field over the next decade, emphasizing the importance of addressing gaps in knowledge.*
This study is the first to examine the utility of body mass index (BMI) as an indicator of eating disorder (ED) pathology and fitness for employment for professional male fashion models. We assessed the relationship between experimenter-measured BMI, muscle mass, body fat percentage, and ED severity (EDE-Q score) in male models and nonmodels. Except for higher eating concern, the two groups displayed similar EDE-Q scores after controlling for age.
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- The study investigates how identity functioning varies among women with anorexia nervosa (AN) at different stages of recovery compared to women with no eating disorders.
- It finds that women currently diagnosed with AN (AN-C) have significantly poorer identity functioning than those partially recovered (AN-PR), fully recovered (AN-FR), and non-ED controls.
- The research suggests that addressing identity functioning could be crucial in the treatment of AN, as it differs significantly based on the individual's recovery stage.
Article Synopsis
- Eating disorders lead to a death every 52 minutes and many current treatments fail to help about 50% of individuals, highlighting the need for better, personalized approaches.
- The new Network-Informed Personalized Treatment, utilizing tools like the Awaken Digital Guide, aims to improve treatment effectiveness by involving clinicians in the software development process.
- A pilot study showed positive feedback from both clinicians and patients using the Awaken Digital Guide, indicating it may enhance collaboration and efficiency in treating eating disorders.
Article Synopsis
- This study focuses on how individual symptoms of depression and co-occurring issues like anxiety and eating disorders (ED) can change over time for people with moderate to severe depression.
- Participants tracked their symptoms using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), providing a total of 2480 observations over 20 days.
- The findings suggest that eating disorder symptoms play a significant role in individual symptom networks, potentially influencing the persistence of depressive symptoms, and highlight the need for further research on how these networks can improve clinical decision-making.
Article Synopsis
- - Eating disorders (ED) are serious mental health issues with high relapse rates, and wearable sensors may help monitor physiological indicators like heart rate and skin temperature to create timely interventions.
- - A systematic review examined 94 studies on the physiological measures (heart rate, heart rate variability, electrodermal activity, etc.) of individuals with various eating disorders, showing differing patterns compared to healthy individuals, particularly in Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa.
- - The findings suggest the potential for using peripheral physiological indicators in ED treatment, but more extensive and diverse research is needed to better understand their implications for diagnosis and therapy.
Article Synopsis
- The study explores whether machine learning (ML) algorithms can differentiate between anorexia nervosa (AN) and atypical anorexia nervosa (atypical AN) by analyzing various features while excluding BMI.
- Results showed that ML classifiers performed well when BMI was included (about 75% accuracy) but significantly less effectively without it (just over 59% accuracy).
- The findings suggest that BMI is critical for distinguishing between AN and atypical AN, prompting a reconsideration of the diagnostic criteria for atypical AN as it shares many characteristics with AN.
Article Synopsis
- * The transdiagnostic theory suggests that common perfectionism traits, like concern over mistakes, could maintain these disorders, but previous research struggled to confirm this connection.
- * A study using network analysis found that "concern over mistakes" was a key factor linking perfectionism and eating disorder symptoms, indicating that addressing it might improve treatment outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how feeling fat and fear of weight gain contribute to the symptoms of eating disorders (EDs) and examines their relationships with emotions, thoughts, and behaviors associated with EDs.
- Conducted with 94 participants, including 64 with anorexia nervosa, the research utilized ecological momentary assessments over 18 days to gather data during stressful times like mealtime.
- Findings reveal that feeling fat and fear of weight gain can predict negative emotions and behaviors related to ED, while also showing reciprocal relationships, indicating a cyclical pattern that varies by ED diagnosis and suggesting avenues for targeted treatment interventions.
Article Synopsis
- Eating disorders are severe mental illnesses with increasing prevalence and high rates of impairment and mortality, highlighting the need for better assessment and detection methods.
- The review examines various transdiagnostic assessment tools, including interviews, self-reports, and technology-based evaluations, aimed at improving research and clinical practices.
- Recommendations are provided for using these assessments effectively, along with suggestions for future research, such as developing short screening tools and standardized assessments for ongoing monitoring of eating disorder symptoms.
Background: Eating disorders (ED) are serious psychiatric disorders, taking a life every 52 minutes, with high relapse. There are currently no support or effective intervention therapeutics for individuals with an ED in their everyday life. The aim of this study is to build idiographic machine learning (ML) models to evaluate the performance of physiological recordings to detect individual ED behaviors in naturalistic settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMajor Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a prevalent psychiatric disorder impacting 10-16% of Americans in their lifetime. Approximately 60% of individuals with MDD have comorbid anxiety disorders. Additionally, although scarce research has examined eating disorders (EDs) in depression, a bidirectional association exists between ED and MDD symptoms.
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- 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.
Article Synopsis
- Eating disorders are complex psychiatric conditions, with existing treatments being ineffective for about half of patients due to the varied presentation of symptoms and lack of personalized treatment plans.
- There’s potential to improve treatment effectiveness by utilizing personalized networks created from real-time patient data, incorporating clinician insights, and central symptoms as treatment targets.
- A pilot study is comparing different methods for constructing these personalized networks for patients with anorexia nervosa, aiming to determine which approach yields the best treatment recommendations and informs clinical practice more effectively.*
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.
Article Synopsis
- The prevalence of eating disorders is rising among males, potentially outpacing the increase seen in females, with cognitive biases related to food, body image, and perfectionism playing a key role in this trend.
- A study used eye-tracking to monitor 180 male participants while they read scenarios about emotions related to food, body image, and perfectionism, linking their eye movement patterns to eating disorder symptoms and body mass index (BMI).
- Results indicated that emotional processing related to body and perfectionism in third-person perspectives was connected to eating disorder symptoms, while second-person perspectives affected BMI, highlighting the significance of cognitive biases in males' eating disorders.
Article Synopsis
- * This pilot study will compare two online therapies: a five-session imaginal exposure therapy (where participants confront their fears about eating and weight gain) versus a control writing intervention, assessing the effectiveness of each in preventing readmission.
- * The research aims to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the treatments, analyze whether imaginal exposure is more effective at reducing eating disorder symptoms, and explore the role of fear learning as a change mechanism in addressing cognitive eating disorder pathology.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the relationship between sleep problems, anxiety, worry, and symptoms of anorexia nervosa (AN) in individuals with AN or atypical AN.
- Using network analysis, researchers identified key symptoms such as shape judgment, restriction, and tiredness, along with bridge symptoms like worry and loss of energy that connect various elements.
- The findings suggest that addressing sleep disturbances, anxiety, and worry alongside traditional AN symptom treatment could enhance recovery outcomes for patients.
Article Synopsis
- Body image disturbance (BID) significantly contributes to eating disorders, especially anorexia nervosa (AN), and the study assessed a new digital tool called "Somatomap" to measure BID.
- The research involved 55 AN patients and 55 healthy controls using 2D and 3D avatars to indicate their body image concerns and compare actual physical measurements.
- Findings revealed that AN patients had greater body perception inaccuracies, more dissatisfaction, and localized concerns primarily in the chest and lower abdomen, with results implying that Somatomap could help identify objective markers of BID severity.
Article Synopsis
- This study investigated the connection between gastric symptoms and the development of eating disorder symptoms during early adolescence, considering the influence of parental warmth and the child's sex.
- using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, researchers analyzed responses from nearly 5,000 participants aged 9-10 over two years, focusing on gastric symptoms reported by parents and perceived parental acceptance reported by children.
- The findings indicated that for girls, lower maternal acceptance heightened the risk of developing eating disorder symptoms related to gastric symptoms, while no significant effects were found related to paternal acceptance.
Article Synopsis
- A study analyzed the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and eating disorder symptoms among professional fashion models in the UK, comparing them to nonmodels.
- The findings revealed that models had lower BMI but exhibited higher levels of eating disorder symptomatology on various scales, indicating that low BMI alone does not reflect the health status of these individuals.
- The research suggests that the current low BMI cutoff for fashion model employment may not effectively identify those at risk for eating disorders, prompting calls for new health protection policies for models.
Article Synopsis
- Body dissatisfaction negatively impacts women's mental and physical health, especially focusing on the 'thin-ideal,' while the relationship with muscularity-ideal is less understood.
- Researchers developed two new scales to measure body dissatisfaction: the Female Body Scale (FBS) for adiposity and the Female Fit Body Scale (FFITBS) for muscularity.
- The study found both scales to be valid and reliable, showing that higher body dissatisfaction correlates with eating disorder symptoms, and a notable portion of women reported dissatisfaction towards the larger-muscularity-ideal.
Article Synopsis
- Identifying students at risk for binge-eating and alcohol use disorders is crucial in the UK, with a study involving 155 students assessing their impulsive behaviors and drinking habits.
- Participants were categorized into four risk groups based on their binge-eating and alcohol use scores, revealing that binge-eaters, regardless of their drinking habits, exhibited higher negative impulsivity.
- The study found that while both binge-eating and alcohol use were linked to negative urgency, binge-eating had a stronger relationship, particularly in males, suggesting that these high-risk students could benefit from emotional regulation interventions.