Is reported childhood sexual abuse associated with the psychopathological characteristics of patients who experience auditory hallucinations?

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether reported childhood sexual abuse is related to the severity of symptoms in patients who experience auditory hallucinations.

Method: A sample of 26 adult male and females with psychotic disorders involving auditory hallucinations were interviewed and were asked to complete three self-report measures: the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-II and DES-taxon versions); the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); and the Beliefs About Voices Questionnaire (BAVQ). They were also asked about any history of sexual abuse in childhood.

Anger and core beliefs in the eating disorders.

Objective: The link between emotion and eating pathology has long been established, but relatively little is known about the role of anger, partly because the existing literature has tended to concentrate on anger as a unitary construct. Nor is there any understanding of the cognitive factors that drive this affect in the eating disorders. This study had two aims: to determine levels of different facets of anger across eating disorder diagnoses and behaviors; and to investigate whether facets of anger are related to the individual's negative core beliefs.

Ethnicity modifies seasonal variations in birth weight and weight gain of infants.

Early growth is considered critical for the development of obesity and adulthood cardiovascular diseases. Because season and environmental temperature at birth have also been associated with obesity, it is important to examine whether birth weight and postnatal weight gain vary by season. Data from the National Collaborative Perinatal Project were used to assess the influence of season on birth weight and weight gain during the first 4 mo of life.

Somatoform dissociation in eating-disordered patients.

This study investigated the role of somatoform dissociation in eating disorders and pathological eating behaviour, relative to the established association of eating pathology with psychological dissociation. The participants were 131 women with DSM-IV diagnoses of anorexic or bulimic disorders and 75 women who had no such disorder. Each woman completed measures of psychological and somatoform dissociation, as well as a measure of bulimic attitudes.

Self-discrepancies, attentional bias and persecutory delusions.

Background: Persecutory delusions appear to involve abnormal attentional biases to threat-related information, particularly information related to the self. The present study aimed to investigate attentional biases to different types of perceived threat and changes in self-perception in response to exposure to such threat-related material.

Method: Discrepancies between actual self, ideal self and perceived others' self-representations were assessed in three groups of participants; 13 people experiencing persecutory delusions, 11 people in a psychiatric comparison group, and 13 in a non-psychiatric comparison group.

Schema-level cognitions in patients with binge eating disorder: a case control study.

Objective: This study examined the schema-level cognitions (core beliefs) of patients with binge eating disorder to determine whether these patients differ from those with bulimia nervosa. A case control method (matching groups for age and body mass index [BMI]) was used, to avoid the confounding factors that are found in most studies of this sort.

Method: All clinical women were recruited from a specialist eating disorder clinic.

Preconscious processing of body image cues. Impact on body percept and concept.

Objective: There is considerable evidence that body image is an elastic construct, which can be influenced by environmental and internal factors. The present study used a visual subliminal processing paradigm, with the aim of determining the impact of preconscious processing of verbal cues upon body image (percept and concept).

Method: Forty nonclinical women completed measures of body percept and concept before and after being exposed to very rapid presentations (4 ms) of fatness and thinness cues.

Threat processing in women with bulimia.

Cognitive-behavioral treatments are the most commonly used approaches for bulimia nervosa. However, these treatments tend to produce only moderate remission rates. Therefore, it is useful to consider how experimental cognitive approaches can help to revise current cognitive-behavioral models of bulimia.

Pattern of birth in adults with anorexia nervosa.

While women with anorexia nervosa are more likely to be born in March through June (in the northern hemisphere), there is no coherent model that explains this association. This study examined the birth pattern of adult restrictive and binge-purge anorexics and whether environmental temperature at assumed conception is a relevant factor. Retrospective analysis of the case notes of 195 adult anorexics was used to determine diagnosis, date of birth, eating attitudes, and body mass index.

Dissociation in adolescent girls with anorexia: relationship to comorbid psychopathology.

This study investigated the relationship between dissociation and psychological symptoms in adolescent girls with anorexia. First, the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (A-DES) were examined using data from 181 nonclinical adolescent boys and girls. Thereafter, A-DES scores and correlations with a range of psychological symptoms were compared across 20 girls with anorexia, 19 mixed clinical girls, and 86 nonclinical girls.

Child abuse, dissociation, and core beliefs in bulimic disorders.

Objective: This study of bulimic women examined the relationship between the severity of four forms of reported child abuse (emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse) and bulimic pathology. ln addition, it investigated the relationship of abuse with dissociation and core beliefs.

Method: A sample of 23 women with bulimic disorders completed standardized self-report measures of child abuse, dissociation, core beliefs, and bulimic symptomatology.

Reported sexual abuse and bulimic psychopathology among nonclinical women: the mediating role of shame.

Objective: Despite consistent evidence that a reported history of sexual abuse is linked to later bulimic psychopathology, less is known about the psychological processes that underpin this relationship. This study examines the hypothesis that shame acts as a mediator in the link between reported sexual abuse and bulimic attitudes.

Method: A nonclinical sample of female undergraduates (N = 214) completed standardized measures of experiences of sexual abuse, internalized shame, and bulimic psychopathology.

Pattern of birth and eating attitudes in young adults: failure to replicate in a warmer climate.

Objective: Previous research (based in the United Kingdom) has shown a link between warmer temperatures at birth and restrictive eating attitudes in early adulthood. The current study examined whether this pattern can be replicated in a warmer area of the northern hemisphere (Southwest Spain).

Methods: The participants were 261 preuniversity volunteers (125 women and 136 men) born in Extremadura, Southwest Spain.

Impulsive behaviors in bulimic patients: relation to general psychopathology.

Objective: At a general level, impulsivity is related to both bulimic and general psychopathology. However, it is a complex construct, and the specific role of different forms of impulsivity in psychopathology remains to be determined. The present study of bulimic outpatients examined the association of internally and externally directed impulsive behaviors with general and bulimic psychopathology.

Pattern of birth in anorexia nervosa. II: A comparison of early-onset cases in the southern and northern hemispheres.

Objective: In the northern hemisphere, people with anorexia nervosa are more likely to be born in the spring and early summer, particularly when environmental temperature at assumed time of conception is warmer. This study investigates whether there is a comparable effect in the southern hemisphere (Australia), where seasonal and temperature patterns are reversed.

Method: Date of birth and temperature at assumed time of conception were collected for 199 Australian and 259 UK patients with early-onset anorexia nervosa.

Pattern of birth in anorexia nervosa. I: Early-onset cases in the United Kingdom.

Objectives: Previous studies suggest that adults with anorexia nervosa are more likely to be born in spring and early summer. This study examines whether this pattern of birth is true of early-onset anorexia nervosa, and whether there is a relationship between environmental temperature at assumed time of conception and a later diagnosis of anorexia nervosa.

Method: The population were children and adolescents with diagnoses of anorexia nervosa (N = 259) or "other eating disorders" (N = 149).

Influence of environmental temperatures during gestation and at birth on eating characteristics in adolescence: a replication and extension study.

Past research has shown a season of birth effect in clinical subjects with eating disorders. Studies also indicate a similar effect of environmental temperatures in non-clinical subjects, as well as effects of environmental temperatures during the three trimesters of gestation. These two studies aimed to replicate and extend those findings.

Environmental temperature during gestation and body mass index in adolescence: new etiologic clues?

Objective: Being born during certain parts of the year is linked to the presence of obesity in later years. Animal studies suggest that environmental temperature during fetal development may be one aspect of the link to later weight status, but this relationship has not been extensively studied in humans. The present study investigates whether environmental temperature during different stages of human gestation is associated with body mass index (BMI) during late adolescence.

Excessive exercise in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: relation to eating characteristics and general psychopathology.

Objective: Excessive exercise is a well-known phenomenon in anorexia nervosa, but less is known about its role in bulimia nervosa. In addition, there is little evidence regarding the psychopathological processes that might act as predisposing, triggering, or maintaining factors for such exercise. The present study examined the presence of excessive exercise in different women with eating disorders, and its psychopathological correlates.

Body image treatment within an inpatient program for anorexia nervosa: the role of mirror exposure in the desensitization process.

Objective: This pilot study examined the role of mirror confrontation in the desensitization process of a body image treatment within an inpatient program for anorexia nervosa.

Method: A within-subjects design was used. It compared the impact of two modes of group body image treatment on body dissatisfaction, anxiety, and avoidance behaviors.

Treating personality fragmentation and dissociation in borderline personality disorder: A pilot study of the impact of cognitive analytic therapy.

Recent findings suggest that personality fragmentation may be a core component of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and that successful treatment of BPD may depend on the extent to which this is addressed. Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) can increase integration by strengthening awareness, and hence control, of the dissociative processes maintaining fragmentation. This pilot study aimed to conduct a systematic evaluation of the impact of CAT on BPD severity and personality integration.

The utility of dimensional and categorical approaches to understanding dissociation in the eating disorders.

Objective: The present study compared levels of dissociation across groups of eating-disordered women, investigating the utility of dimensional and categorical measures of dissociation in understanding diagnoses and behaviours in the eating disorders.

Methods: The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-II) was completed by 170 eating-disordered women (drawn from out-patient assessment clinics) and 203 nonclinical women. The clinical group also supplied information regarding eating behaviours and related features (alcohol abuse, reported history of sexual abuse).