RESUMEN
The co-occurrence of stress-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obesity is common, particularly among military personnel but the link between these conditions is unclear. Individuals with comorbid PTSD and obesity manifest other physical and psychological problems, which significantly diminish their quality of life. Current understanding of the pathways connecting stress to PTSD and obesity is focused largely on behavioral mediators alone with little consideration of the biological regulatory mechanisms that underlie their co-occurrence. In this work, we leverage prior knowledge to systematically highlight such bio-behavioral mechanisms and inform on the design of confirmatory pilot studies. We use natural language processing (NLP) to extract documented regulatory interactions involved in the metabolic response to stress and its impact on obesity and PTSD from over 8 million peer-reviewed papers. The resulting network describes the propagation of stress to PTSD and obesity through 34 metabolic mediators using 302 documented regulatory interactions supported by over 10,000 citations. Stress jointly affected both conditions through 21 distinct pathways involving only two intermediate metabolic mediators out of a total of 76 available paths through this network. Moreover, oxytocin (OXT), Neuropeptide-Y (NPY), and cortisol supported an almost direct propagation of stress to PTSD and obesity with different net effects. Although stress upregulated both NPY and cortisol, the downstream effects of both markers are reported to relieve PTSD severity but exacerbate obesity. The stress-mediated release of oxytocin, however, was found to concurrently downregulate the severity of both conditions. These findings highlight how a network-informed approach that leverages prior knowledge might be used effectively in identifying key mediators like OXT though experimental verification of signal transmission dynamics through each path will be needed to determine the actual likelihood and extent of each marker's participation.
RESUMEN
Binge eating disorder, food addiction, and dysregulated overeating are common among people with severe obesity and prevalent among bariatric surgery populations. These problematic eating habits share commonalities with other addictions. Effective, holistic self-management is needed to promote long-term weight loss and psychosocial adjustment among patients who are severely obese who undergo surgery, especially those with clinically remarkable levels of binge eating, food addiction, or dysregulated overeating.This article aims to briefly review binge eating disorder, food addiction, and obesity-as well as issues surrounding surgery for individuals who are severely obese-and introduce the Bariatric Outcomes: Self-management for Sustained Surgical Success (BOSSSS) program. The BOSSSS program is holistic, skill based, and designed to promote weight loss, prevent weight regain, and improve well-being in patients with severe obesity with a history of bariatric surgery.Preliminary survey data suggest that bariatric surgery patients report a lack of skill-based emotional and behavioral support designed to help them over the long term. The BOSSSS program is rooted in self-determination theory, integrating mobile health technology across program components. Self-determination theory-based interventions are personalized and encourage autonomy, competence, and social support among participating patients and providers. The behavioral self-regulation training within BOSSSS is energy balance self-monitoring and titration. Emotional self-regulation is addressed via a specialized version of dialectical behavior skills therapy, emphasizing promotion of coping skills and use of adaptive, healthy substances in immediate environments. The BOSSSS program has been well received by patients and could be implemented by nurses and other health professionals with minimal support.