General mentalizing, emotional theory of mind and interpersonal mistrust in anorexia nervosa: The validation of the Hebrew version of the Cambridge mindreading face-task.

OBJECTIVE: This study had two goals. The first was to validate and examine the potential of the Hebrew version of the Cambridge Mindreading face task (CAMHeb )-an ecological measure of emotional theory of mind (eToM)-to assess eToM in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). The second goal was to examine whether interpersonal mistrust would mediate the relation between mentalizing and eToM and the severity of AN. METHOD: The validity of the CAMHeb was examined using well-established measures of mentalizing ability and eToM in 45 young female patients with AN and 53 control participants. Next, the mediation model was assessed using a subsample of 33 AN patients and 34 controls, in which interpersonal mistrust was additionally assessed. RESULTS: The CAMHeb correlated with the measures of mentalizing ability and eToM. The CAMHeb , along with the measure of general mentalizing, significantly differentiated between the AN and control groups. The associations of general mentalizing and CAMHeb with eating disorder (ED) symptoms were mediated by interpersonal mistrust. CONCLUSION: The CAMHeb is a valid measure of deficient eToM in AN. In therapy, an increase in mentalizing ability and accurate eToM may enhance interpersonal trust, which may further contribute to attenuation of AN symptoms.

The association between deficiencies in paternal and maternal reflective functioning and anorexia nervosa symptomatology.

BACKGROUND: A large theoretical body of knowledge exists emphasizing the importance of parental mentalizing in the context of anorexia-nervosa (AN). However, the empirical support to these assumptions is still scarce. The aim of the present study was to examine whether parents of patients with AN are characterized by a lower mentalizing ability, and whether it is associated with impaired mentalizing, AN symptomatology and eating disorder (ED) related psychological traits in the daughters. METHODS: Thirty-two family triads (fathers, mothers, and daughters) of female adolescent and young adult inpatients with AN were compared with thirty-three non-clinical family triads (N = 195). The mentalizing ability of all the participants was assessed using semi-structured interviews and coded using the Reflective Functioning Scale (RFS). Self-report questionnaires were administered to the daughters to evaluate ED symptomatology and ED related psychological traits (e.g., low self-esteem, interpersonal insecurity, emotional dysregulation). RESULTS: Decreased reflective functioning (RF) levels were found among mothers and fathers of patients with AN compared to their control peers. Examining the entire sample, clinical and non-clinical groups together, showed that both paternal and maternal RF were associated with the daughters' RF and each were found to have a significant and distinct contribution to the daughters' RF. Significant associations were found between lower levels of maternal and paternal RF and increased ED symptoms and ED related psychological traits. The use of a mediation model suggested a serial relationship in which low maternal and paternal RF contributes to the daughters' low RF, which in turn is associated with higher levels of psychological maladjustment, and ultimately contributes to the increased severity of ED symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The present results provide strong empirical support for theoretical models that suggest that deficits in parental mentalizing may represent important correlates of the presence and severity of ED symptoms in AN. Furthermore, the results highlight the relevance of fathers' mentalizing ability in the context of AN. Finally, clinical and research implications are discussed.

The goal of the study was to examine the relationship between deficits in parents' ability to reflect on their own and others' emotional experience and the severity of their daughter's eating disorder and psychological maladjustment. A clinical group of young female inpatients diagnosed with anorexia-nervosa and both their biological parents was compared to a control group of young females without eating disorder and their parents. Personal interviews assessed the participants' reflective ability and self-report questionnaires assessed the daughters' eating disorder severity and psychological difficulties. The results show that patients with anorexia nervosa and their parents are less able to reflect on their emotional experiences compared to the control group. The parents' reflective ability was found to be related to their daughter's reflective ability. For both fathers and mothers, the less able the parent is to reflect on his or her emotional experiences the higher the severity of the daughter's eating disorder symptoms and psychological maladjustment are. The results imply that deficits in the parents' ability to process their own and others' emotional experiences are related to the severity of eating disorders symptoms and psychological maladjustment among daughters.. The study results highlight the importance of assessing reflective abilities of fathers.

Mentalizing Self and Other and Affect Regulation Patterns in Anorexia and Depression.

The study aimed to examine two constructs: general mentalizing processes and the specific component of affective mentalizing regarding self and others alongside the construct of affect regulation patterns in female adolescent and young adult inpatients with anorexia nervosa (AN; n = 41), depression (n = 20) and controls (n = 53). We further examined the predictive ability of affect regulation to eating-disorder (ED) symptoms beyond that of the mentalizing variables, and their potential role in mediating between mentalizing, depression and ED symptoms. We used tools assessing reflective functioning (RF), complex emotion recognition and theory of mind (ToM), alexithymia, affect regulation, depression, and ED symptoms. The AN and depression groups exhibited lower general mentalizing and higher alexithymia, emotional reactivity, and emotional cutoff patterns than controls, but showed no greater disturbance in ToM. The two clinical groups did not differ on any of these variables. Elevated mentalizing and adequate affect regulation patterns separately predicted lower severity of ED symptoms. Nonetheless, affect regulation did not add to the predictive value of mentalizing variables. Specifically, elevated alexithymia, and depressive symptomatology, but not RF, predicted greater ED symptomatology. Moreover, alexithymia directly accounted for elevated ED symptoms and also indirectly connected with ED symptoms via emotional hyperactivation and elevated depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that deficiencies in mentalization and affect regulation are not unique to AN, but may rather associated with psychopathology in general. Nonetheless, alexithymia and depression may increase ED-related symptomatology. Affect regulation deficiencies are mainly related with depressive symptoms and emotional hyperactivation is indirectly related with AN via the depressive symptoms.