Diagnostic Concordance between Research and Clinical-Based Assessments of Psychiatric Comorbidity in Anorexia Nervosa.

The literature has reported poor concordance in the assessment of psychiatric conditions, and inhomogeneity in the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in Anorexia Nervosa (AN). We aimed to investigate concordance level between clinicians' and researchers' diagnoses of psychiatric comorbidity in AN and differences in eating and general psychopathology between patients with and without psychiatric comorbidity assessed by clinicians versus researchers. A clinical psychiatrist interviewed 122 patients with AN; then a researcher administered the Structured and Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5). Participants completed the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The agreement between clinicians and researchers was poor for all diagnoses but obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance use disorder. Patients with comorbid disorders diagnosed by researchers reported more severe eating and general psychopathology than those without SCID-comorbidity. The differences between patients with and without comorbidities assessed by a clinician were smaller. Two approaches to psychiatry comorbidity assessment emerged: SCID-5 diagnoses yield a precise and rigorous assessment, while clinicians tend to consider some symptoms as secondary to the eating disorder rather than as part of another psychiatric condition, seeing the clinical picture as a whole. Overall, the study highlights the importance of carefully assessing comorbidity in AN.

Shame, Guilt, and Self-Consciousness in Anorexia Nervosa.

BACKGROUND: the role of self-conscious emotions (SCE) such as shame and guilt in eating disorders (ED) has been systematically studied only in recent years, but it is still debated. This study aims to investigate the role of SCE in anorexia nervosa (AN), evaluating the role of self-consciousness. METHODS: fifty-five individuals with AN and seventy-four healthy controls (HC) were enrolled and completed a battery of tests evaluating the proneness to feel shame and guilt, as well as comparing self-consciousness, eating, and general psychopathology. RESULTS: individuals with AN showed a higher proneness to shame. Shame was correlated with body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness, which are core symptoms in AN, after controlling for scores of depression and anxiety. Proneness to guilt seemed to be less correlated with eating and body symptomatology, but it appeared to have a negative correlation with binge-purging symptoms. Furthermore, proneness to shame was independent of guilt or self-consciousness and the two groups did not differ regarding public and private self-consciousness. CONCLUSIONS: shame is an important and independent factor in AN. Future research may offer progress in the development of shame-focused therapies.

Psychiatric patients at the emergency department: factors associated with length of stay and likelihood of hospitalization.

Emergency department (ED) care for psychiatric patients is currently understudied despite being highly utilized. Therefore, we aimed to analyze psychiatric patients' length of stay (LOS) and LOS-related factors at the ED and to investigate and quantify the likelihood of being hospitalized after an emergency psychiatric evaluation. Charts of 408 individuals who sought help at the ED were retrospectively assessed to identify patients' sociodemographic and clinical data upon ED admission and discharge. All interventions performed at the ED (e.g., medications, hospitalization, clinical advice at discharge) were collected as well. The LOS for psychiatric patients was relatively short (6.5 h), and substance/alcohol intoxication was the main factor impacting LOS. Upon ED arrival, hospitalized patients were mostly men, most often had a yellow/severe triage code, and most often had a positive history of psychiatric illness, psychotic symptoms, euphoric mood, or suicidal ideation. Manic symptoms and suicidal ideation were the conditions most frequently leading to hospitalization. Given the paucity of real-world data on psychiatric patients' LOS and outcomes in the ED context, our findings show that psychiatric patients are evaluated in a reasonable amount of time. Their hospitalization is mostly influenced by clinical conditions rather than predisposing (e.g., age) or system-related factors (e.g., mode of arrival).

Young Patients with Anorexia Nervosa: The Contribution of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Events.

Background and Objectives: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex disorder whose etiopathogenesis involves both biological and environmental factors. The aims of the present study were to retrospectively analyze risk factors in young patients with AN and to assess differences in clinical and eating-related symptoms between patients with and without a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and with or without a history of acknowledged risk factors. Materials and Methods: Sixty-four patients with AN (<25 years old) were recruited and completed an anamnestic evaluation and the following self-report measures: Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Life Events Checklist (LEC), and Dissociative Experience Scale (DES). The PTSD diagnosis was assigned according to the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-5 (SCID-5). Results: The most frequent risk factors were those associated with relational traumatic events and familiarity for psychiatric disorders. Higher severity of body-related symptoms (i.e., those symptoms impacting on body image and perception and leading to body concerns) emerged in patients with PTSD, versus patients without PTSD diagnosis; however, after controlling for dissociative symptoms, only differences in BMI remained significant. Concerning other risk factors, those with a history of childhood trauma were more depressed than patients without such history and those with familiarity with eating disorders reported more AN-related hospitalizations in the past than those individuals without familiarity. Conclusion: These results suggest the importance of investigating the presence of risk factors and PTSD diagnosis in patients with AN, and to treat post-traumatic symptoms in young patients in order to decrease the risk of developing severe forms of AN. Moreover, a particular focus on those patients with a family member affected by an eating disorder could be of clinical utility.

Affective temperaments and eating psychopathology in anorexia nervosa: Which role for anxious and depressive traits?

BACKGROUND: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe mental illness. Personality traits and comorbidity with affective and anxiety disorders are key-aspects of its pathogenesis but little attention has been paid so far to affective temperaments in AN. Also, childhood anxiety is proposed to impact on AN clinical severity. Therefore, we aimed to investigate if affective temperaments could be related to AN eating psychopathology also clarifying if those with low versus high scores on depressive and anxious temperaments could differ in AN clinical current and lifetime severity. METHODS: One-hundred and forty-seven inpatients with AN were consecutively recruited. All participants completed: Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego-Autoquestionnaire, Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory. Clinical data were collected upon admission. RESULTS: Regression models showed that all affective temperaments were associated with eating psychopathology (eating restraint and eating, shape, and weight concerns); however, when controlling for confounders, only the anxious temperament remained significant. Also, those patients with higher scores on depressive and anxious temperaments reported higher current and lowest lifetime body mass index (BMI). LIMITATIONS: Only inpatients were recruited; self-report assessments were used and follow-up data are lacking. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study support the association between affective (anxious in particular) temperament traits and the presence of altered eating psychopathology in AN. Also, higher traits of depressive and anxious temperaments reported higher current and lowest lifetime BMI. Should these findings be confirmed, the assessment of the anxious temperament could fruitfully inform prevention and treatment interventions for AN.

Day Hospital Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa: A 12-Month Follow-up Study.

Day hospitals (DHs) represent a treatment option for anorexia nervosa (AN), a mental disorder that is difficult to treat and has no evidence-based treatments available. We aimed to determine the effectiveness of a DH treatment that was specifically focused on the emotions of severe AN patients. Body mass index and eating psychopathology were the primary outcome measures. Fifty-six adult patients with AN were assessed upon admission, at the end of treatment (EOT) and at a 12-month follow-up evaluation (T18) using Eating Disorders Inventory-2, Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety and Brief Social Phobia Scale. All participants received a multidisciplinary treatment programme that focused on psychodynamic psychotherapy. Seventy-eight per cent of participants reported positive outcomes at EOT and 68% at T18. Moreover, 82.1% and 65.4% of long-standing patients showed positive outcomes at EOT and T18, respectively. All measures of psychopathology were significantly improved at EOT and were maintained at follow-up. Our DH was effective at treating severe AN patients; however, further investigations of the processes of change are warranted.

Resistance to treatment and change in anorexia nervosa [corrected]: a clinical overview.

BACKGROUND: Current literature on Eating Disorders (EDs) is devoid of evidence-based findings providing support to effective treatments, mostly for anorexia nervosa (AN). This lack of successful guidelines may play a role in making these disorders even more resistant. In fact, many individuals do not respond to the available treatments and develop an enduring and disabling illness. With this overview we aimed to highlight and discuss treatment resistance in AN--with an in-depth investigation of resistance-related psychological factors.A literature search was conducted on PubMed and PsychINFO; English-language articles published between 1990 and 2013 investigating the phenomenon of resistance to treatment in AN have been considered. DISCUSSION: The selected papers have been then grouped into four main thematic areas: denial of illness; motivation to change; maintaining factors and treatment outcome; and therapeutic relationship. Eating symptomatology was found to only partially explain resistance to treatment. The role of duration of illness has been questioned whilst some maintaining factors seemed promising in providing a useful framework for this phenomenon. Emotive and relational aspects have been investigated on their role in resistance as well as therapists' countertransference. SUMMARY: Remarkably there has been little research done on resistance to treatment in the ED field, in spite of its clinical relevance. Motivation, insight and subjective meaning of the illness can be useful tools to manage the resistance phenomenon when coupled with a wider approach. The latter enables the therapists to be aware of their role in the therapeutic alliance through countertransference aspects and to consider the EDs as disorders of the development of both personality and self, entailing severe impairments as regards identity and relationships.

Emotions in eating disorders: changes of anger control after an emotion-focused day hospital treatment.

OBJECTIVE: Emotional states are key elements of eating disorders (EDs), with anger and aggressiveness playing an important role. This study aimed to investigate anger features in ED patients before and after an intensive day hospital (DH) specifically focused on emotions. METHOD: Forty-one ED patients were admitted to our DH, which specifically includes emotion-focused activities. They completed self-reported questionnaires at the beginning and after the intervention: Eating Disorders Inventory-2, State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). RESULTS: Anger Control (Axcon) subscale of STAXI decreased significantly, and both BDI and body mass index - in case of underweight patients - significantly improved after completion of DH. Axcon decrease correlated with BMI improvement. The majority of individuals showing good outcome reported also a significant improvement in Axcon levels. DISCUSSION: This study provided preliminary data about the effectiveness - mainly in anger coping - of an emotion-focused DH.