Motivation to change among residential treatment patients with an eating disorder: assessment of the multidimensionality of motivation and its relation to treatment outcome.

Objective: To examine the multidimensional nature of motivation to change in an adolescent sample in residential eating disorder (ED) treatment and relate it to outcome.

Method: To determine whether different dimensions of motivation (benefits, burdens, and functional avoidance) are differentially associated with symptom severity and outcome, we assessed eating pathology and motivation to change in consecutively admitted female patients (n = 67) with AN, BN, and EDNOS in a residential ED program with the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Decisional Balance Scale (DB).

Results: Pretreatment DB benefits and functional avoidance subscales were correlated with ED and comorbid psychopathology.

How do eating disorder specialist clinicians apply DSM-IV diagnostic criteria in routine clinical practice? Implications for enhancing clinical utility in DSM-5.

The clinical utility of the DSM-IV eating disorder (ED) diagnostic criteria among practicing clinicians has not been formally evaluated, despite the considerable diagnostic challenges these disorders present. This study evaluated inter-rater reliability between research and clinical diagnoses, identified discrepantly rated diagnostic criteria, and evaluated ED subtype use in a naturalistic treatment setting. Seventy-six adolescent and young adult female patients consecutively admitted to a residential ED program were evaluated independently by clinicians (unstructured clinical interview) and research assessors (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV).

Hippocampus function predicts severity of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often accompanied by memory problems and abnormal brain structure, particularly within the hippocampus. We implemented a cross-species, hippocampal-dependent task--the virtual Morris Water task--to assess hippocampal function in people with PTSD and age-matched controls during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Performance on the task was equivalent between the groups.

fMRI hippocampal activity during a virtual radial arm maze.

Numerous studies have shown that the hippocampus is critical for spatial memory. Within nonhuman research, a task often used to assess spatial memory is the radial arm maze. Because of the spatial nature of this task, this maze is often used to assess the function of the hippocampus.