Threat-related attentional bias in anorexia nervosa

Ilka Schober Dipl-Psych; Beth Renwick; Hannah de Jong; Martha Kenyon; Helen Sharpe; Corinna Jacobi; Ulrike Schmidt

doi:10.1002/eat.22215

Threat-related attentional bias in anorexia nervosa

Ilka Schober Dipl-Psych, Beth Renwick, Hannah de Jong, Martha Kenyon, Helen Sharpe, Corinna Jacobi, Ulrike Schmidt

Section of Eating Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, United Kingdom; Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Dresden University of Technology, 46, 01187, Dresden, Germany; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden University of Technology, 01307, Dresden, Germany.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective
Attentional bias (AB) modification treatment targeting general or social anxiety has been recently highlighted as a potential novel approach for the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN). The purpose of this study was to examine threat-related AB in patients with ANand healthy control participants (HC) and the relationship between AB and eating disorder and other psychopathology.

Method
Forty-nine female outpatients with AN or Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Anorexia Type (EDNOS-AN), and 44 female HC completed a dot-probe task with threat words and a range of self-report measures assessing eating disorder symptoms and other psychopathology.

Results
There was no evidence for a differential threat-related AB in AN patients despite elevated anxiety in this group. The AB-index, a parameter of the magnitude of attention allocation when two competing stimuli are presented, did not correlate with any of the self-report measures. However, patients with AN responded significantly more slowly to the probe as compared to controls, regardless of the valence or position of the stimuli.

Discussion
The results suggest that the AB in AN patients may be specific to eating disorder-relevant anxieties.

Original language	English
Article number	N/A
Pages (from-to)	168-173
Number of pages	6
Journal	The International journal of eating disorders
Volume	47
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22215
Publication status	Published - Mar 2014

Keywords

Adolescent
Adult
Anorexia Nervosa
Anxiety
Attention
Case-Control Studies
Eating Disorders
Emotions
Female
Humans
Middle Aged
Psychological Tests
Questionnaires
Young Adult

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10.1002/eat.22215

Cite this

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title = "Threat-related attentional bias in anorexia nervosa",

abstract = "ObjectiveAttentional bias (AB) modification treatment targeting general or social anxiety has been recently highlighted as a potential novel approach for the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN). The purpose of this study was to examine threat-related AB in patients with ANand healthy control participants (HC) and the relationship between AB and eating disorder and other psychopathology.MethodForty-nine female outpatients with AN or Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Anorexia Type (EDNOS-AN), and 44 female HC completed a dot-probe task with threat words and a range of self-report measures assessing eating disorder symptoms and other psychopathology.ResultsThere was no evidence for a differential threat-related AB in AN patients despite elevated anxiety in this group. The AB-index, a parameter of the magnitude of attention allocation when two competing stimuli are presented, did not correlate with any of the self-report measures. However, patients with AN responded significantly more slowly to the probe as compared to controls, regardless of the valence or position of the stimuli.DiscussionThe results suggest that the AB in AN patients may be specific to eating disorder-relevant anxieties.",

keywords = "Adolescent, Adult, Anorexia Nervosa, Anxiety, Attention, Case-Control Studies, Eating Disorders, Emotions, Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Psychological Tests, Questionnaires, Young Adult",

author = "Dipl-Psych, {Ilka Schober} and Beth Renwick and {de Jong}, Hannah and Martha Kenyon and Helen Sharpe and Corinna Jacobi and Ulrike Schmidt",

year = "2014",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1002/eat.22215",

language = "English",

volume = "47",

pages = "168--173",

journal = "The International journal of eating disorders",

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AU - Dipl-Psych, Ilka Schober

AU - Renwick, Beth

AU - de Jong, Hannah

AU - Kenyon, Martha

AU - Sharpe, Helen

AU - Jacobi, Corinna

AU - Schmidt, Ulrike

PY - 2014/3

Y1 - 2014/3

N2 - ObjectiveAttentional bias (AB) modification treatment targeting general or social anxiety has been recently highlighted as a potential novel approach for the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN). The purpose of this study was to examine threat-related AB in patients with ANand healthy control participants (HC) and the relationship between AB and eating disorder and other psychopathology.MethodForty-nine female outpatients with AN or Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Anorexia Type (EDNOS-AN), and 44 female HC completed a dot-probe task with threat words and a range of self-report measures assessing eating disorder symptoms and other psychopathology.ResultsThere was no evidence for a differential threat-related AB in AN patients despite elevated anxiety in this group. The AB-index, a parameter of the magnitude of attention allocation when two competing stimuli are presented, did not correlate with any of the self-report measures. However, patients with AN responded significantly more slowly to the probe as compared to controls, regardless of the valence or position of the stimuli.DiscussionThe results suggest that the AB in AN patients may be specific to eating disorder-relevant anxieties.

AB - ObjectiveAttentional bias (AB) modification treatment targeting general or social anxiety has been recently highlighted as a potential novel approach for the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN). The purpose of this study was to examine threat-related AB in patients with ANand healthy control participants (HC) and the relationship between AB and eating disorder and other psychopathology.MethodForty-nine female outpatients with AN or Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Anorexia Type (EDNOS-AN), and 44 female HC completed a dot-probe task with threat words and a range of self-report measures assessing eating disorder symptoms and other psychopathology.ResultsThere was no evidence for a differential threat-related AB in AN patients despite elevated anxiety in this group. The AB-index, a parameter of the magnitude of attention allocation when two competing stimuli are presented, did not correlate with any of the self-report measures. However, patients with AN responded significantly more slowly to the probe as compared to controls, regardless of the valence or position of the stimuli.DiscussionThe results suggest that the AB in AN patients may be specific to eating disorder-relevant anxieties.

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KW - Emotions

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Psychological Tests

KW - Questionnaires

KW - Young Adult

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DO - 10.1002/eat.22215

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SN - 1098-108X

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JO - The International journal of eating disorders

JF - The International journal of eating disorders

IS - 2

M1 - N/A

ER -

Threat-related attentional bias in anorexia nervosa

Abstract

Keywords

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