Joanna E. Steinglass

Deficient Activity in the Neural Systems That Mediate Self-regulatory Control in Bulimia Nervosa

CONTEXT Disturbances in neural systems that mediate voluntary self-regulatory processes may contribute to bulimia nervosa (BN) by releasing feeding behaviors from regulatory control. OBJECTIVE To study the functional activity in neural circuits that subserve self-regulatory control in women with BN. DESIGN We compared functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygenation level-dependent responses in patients with BN with healthy controls during performance of the Simon Spatial Incompatibility task. SETTING University research institute. PARTICIPANTS Forty women: 20 patients with BN and 20 healthy control participants. Main Outcome Measure We used general linear modeling of Simon Spatial Incompatibility task-related activations to compare groups on their patterns of brain activation associated with the successful or unsuccessful engagement of self-regulatory control. RESULTS Patients with BN responded more impulsively and made more errors on the task than did healthy controls; patients with the most severe symptoms made the most errors. During correct responding on incongruent trials, patients failed to activate frontostriatal circuits to the same degree as healthy controls in the left inferolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area [BA] 45), bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (BA 44), lenticular and caudate nuclei, and anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24/32). Patients activated the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 32) more when making errors than when responding correctly. In contrast, healthy participants activated the anterior cingulate cortex more during correct than incorrect responses, and they activated the striatum more when responding incorrectly, likely reflecting an automatic response tendency that, in the absence of concomitant anterior cingulate cortex activity, produced incorrect responses. CONCLUSIONS Self-regulatory processes are impaired in women with BN, likely because of their failure to engage frontostriatal circuits appropriately. These findings enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis of BN by pointing to functional abnormalities within a neural system that subserves self-regulatory control, which may contribute to binge eating and other impulsive behaviors in women with BN.

Set shifting deficit in anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe mental illness characterized in part by rigid thinking and ritualized behaviors involving eating and weight. Cognitive rigidity may play a role in the perpetuation of symptoms, and may provide information as to important brain-based abnormalities. Neuropsychological studies of patients with AN have shown cognitive dysfunction, but few have focused on cognitive flexibility. This study assessed set shifting in patients with AN, as a measure of cognitive flexibility. In this study, 15 patients with AN were compared with 11 healthy controls using a neuropsychological battery including the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST). While patients with AN did not differ from controls on 5 measures of neuropsychological function, they made significantly more perseverative errors on the WCST, indicating a problem in set shifting. This finding suggests that patients with AN have a specific neurocognitive abnormality that may play a role in the development and persistence of this disorder.

Increased Capacity to Delay Reward in Anorexia Nervosa

Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) are often characterized as possessing excessive self-control and are unusual in their ability to reduce or avoid the consumption of palatable foods. This behavior promotes potentially life-threatening weight loss and suggests disturbances in reward processing. We studied whether individuals with AN showed evidence of increased self-control by examining the tendency to delay receipt of a monetary, non-food related, reward. Underweight AN (n = 36) and healthy controls (HC, n = 28) completed a monetary intertemporal choice task measuring delay discounting factor. Individuals with AN reduced the value of a monetary reward over time significantly less than HC (F[1,61] = 5.03; p = 0.029). Secondary analyses indicated that the restricting subtype of AN, in particular, showed significantly less discounting than HC (F[1,46] = 8.3; p = 0.006). These findings indicate that some individuals with AN show less temporal discounting than HC, suggestive of enhanced self-control that is not limited to food consumption. This is in contrast to other psychiatric disorders, for example, substance abuse, which are characterized by greater discounting. Though preliminary, these findings suggest that excessive self-control may contribute to pathological processes and individuals with AN may have neuropsychological characteristics that enhance their ability to delay reward and thereby may help to maintain persistent food restriction.

Pre-meal anxiety and food intake in anorexia nervosa ☆ ☆☆ ★

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious mental illness characterized by reduced caloric intake that often persists after acute weight restoration. This preliminary study assesses the relationship between pre-meal anxiety and food intake in recently weight-restored individuals with AN. We hypothesized that pre-meal anxiety is inversely related to caloric intake in AN. Caloric intake and pre-meal anxiety were measured in three laboratory-based assessments (yogurt snack, multi-item lunch, macaroni and cheese lunch). Anxiety was measured by Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) administered prior to the meal. Acutely weight-restored patients with AN were compared with healthy controls (HCs). Associations between anxiety and intake were analyzed first within each meal type separately and then using a model to combine the sample. In the multi-item lunch and the macaroni and cheese lunch, AN ate significantly less than HC (p=0.01, p<0.001). Pre-meal anxiety was significantly correlated with intake among AN, but not HC. In the yogurt snack, there was no significant association between anxiety and intake among patients or controls, and the groups did not differ in caloric intake. The association between pre-meal anxiety and intake among weight-restored individuals with AN suggests a potential target for relapse prevention treatment.

Rationale for the application of exposure and response prevention to the treatment of anorexia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a life threatening and difficult to treat illness with a high relapse rate. Current treatments are inadequate and new approaches to treatment are needed. METHOD We review the data on anxiety in AN, the relationship between anxiety disorders and AN, and the use of Exposure and Response Prevention in treatment. RESULTS The overlap between AN and anxiety disorders suggest a model of AN in which baseline anxiety features yield eating related fears, avoidance behaviors, and ritualized safety behaviors that promote the underweight state and the perpetuation of the disorder. We propose an Exposure and Response Prevention treatment to prevent relapse in AN. DISCUSSION Overlap between AN and anxiety disorders suggests that Exposure and Response Prevention may be a new and beneficial approach to preventing relapse in individuals with AN.

The Clinical Significance of Amenorrhea as a Diagnostic Criterion for Anorexia Nervosa

OBJECTIVE Amenorrhea is a DSM-IV criterion for the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN). Several studies have reported few differences between patients who meet the full DSM-IV criteria for AN and those who meet all but the amenorrhea criterion. Although this suggests that the absence of menses does not provide critical diagnostic information, many of these studies are limited by small sample sizes. This study aims to examine the clinical utility of amenorrhea as a criterion for the diagnosis of AN. METHOD A chart review was conducted of 240 consecutive patients admitted for inpatient treatment at the NY State Psychiatric Institute from 1993 to 2006. Menstrual data were collected from the Eating Disorder Examination conducted upon admission. Independent samples t-tests were performed to evaluate differences in clinical variables, including age, lifetime lowest body mass index (BMI), admission and discharge BMI, previous number of hospitalizations, duration of illness, Beck Depression Inventory total score, Beck Anxiety Inventory total score, and Eating Disorder Examination subscale scores. RESULTS The amenorrheic and menstruating groups differed significantly only on lowest lifetime BMI and admission BMI, with individuals with amenorrhea having lower BMIs on both measures. CONCLUSION These results indicate that amenorrhea does not distinguish between groups on a number of important measures of clinical severity. It may be that amenorrhea reflects weight and nutritional status, rather than providing useful diagnostic information. Future studies are needed to examine the potential prognostic value of menstrual status.

Capacity to Delay Reward Differentiates Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder

BACKGROUND Although the relationship between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) has long been debated, clinical samples of OCD (without OCPD) and OCPD (without OCD) have never been systematically compared. We studied whether individuals with OCD, OCPD, or both conditions differ on symptomatology, functioning, and a measure of self-control: the capacity to delay reward. METHODS Twenty-five OCD, 25 OCPD, 25 comorbid OCD + OCPD, and 25 healthy control subjects completed clinical assessments and a validated intertemporal choice task that measures capacity to forego small immediate rewards for larger delayed rewards. RESULTS OCD and OCPD subjects both showed impairment in psychosocial functioning and quality of life, as well as compulsive behavior, but only subjects with OCD reported obsessions. Individuals with OCPD, with or without comorbid OCD, discounted the value of delayed monetary rewards significantly less than OCD and healthy control subjects. This excessive capacity to delay reward discriminates OCPD from OCD and is associated with perfectionism and rigidity. CONCLUSIONS OCD and OCPD are both impairing disorders marked by compulsive behaviors, but they can be differentiated by the presence of obsessions in OCD and by excessive capacity to delay reward in OCPD. That individuals with OCPD show less temporal discounting (suggestive of excessive self-control), whereas prior studies have shown that individuals with substance use disorders show greater discounting (suggestive of impulsivity), supports the premise that this component of self-control lies on a continuum in which both extremes (impulsivity and overcontrol) contribute to psychopathology.

Fear of food as a treatment target: Exposure and response prevention for anorexia nervosa in an open series†

OBJECTIVE Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe mental illness with high rates of relapse and rehospitalization. New treatment approaches are needed. We aimed to evaluate the potential utility of addressing eating-related fear in the treatment of AN using psychotherapy techniques known to be effective in the treatment of anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder, namely exposure therapy and response prevention. METHOD We developed a brief treatment intervention for AN (AN-EXRP) and evaluated its effects in an open series of nine individuals with AN towards the end of acute weight restoration. We focused on eating behavior as the primary outcome, as it is related both to anxiety and to longer term course. RESULTS Change in anxiety with AN-EXRP was associated with greater caloric intake. DISCUSSION These findings support the anxiety-centered model of AN and suggest the potential utility of further developing this treatment approach.

Is anorexia nervosa a delusional disorder? An assessment of eating beliefs in anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious mental illness, characterized in part by intense and irrational beliefs about shape and weight, including fear of gaining weight. Although these beliefs are considered to be a diagnostic criterion for the illness, they have not been systematically characterized. This study used the Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale (BABS) to identify the dominant belief that interfered with eating in a sample of underweight patients with AN (N = 25). The degree of insight was assessed quantitatively. The majority of participants (68%) spontaneously reported a dominant belief consistent with fear of gaining weight or becoming fat. Twenty percent of patients were categorized as delusional. The total score on the BABS was significantly correlated with the drive-for-thinness subscale of the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI) (r = 0.41, p = 0.04), but did not correlate with overall measures of AN severity (body mass index [BMI], duration of illness, lowest BMI, other subscales of the EDI, or total EDI score). These findings highlight the centrality of fear of fat in AN and suggest the possibility that there is a subgroup of patients whose concerns about their weight reaches delusional proportions. This subpopulation of patients warrants further study, since patients with more delusional beliefs may have a form of AN that is more refractory to treatment.

On Weight and Waiting: Delay Discounting in Anorexia Nervosa Pretreatment and Posttreatment

BACKGROUND Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) override the drive to eat, forgoing immediate rewards in favor of longer-term goals. We examined delay discounting and its neural correlates in AN before and after treatment to test a potential mechanism of illness persistence. METHODS Inpatients with AN (n = 59) and healthy control subjects (HC, n = 39) performed a delay discounting task at two time points. A subset (n = 30 AN, n = 22 HC) participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning during the task. The task consisted of a range of monetary choices with variable delay times, yielding individual discount rates-the rate by which money loses value over time. RESULTS Before treatment, the AN group showed a preference for delayed over earlier rewards (i.e., less steep discount rates) compared with HC; after weight restoration, AN did not differ from HC. Underweight AN showed slower response times for earlier versus delayed choices; this reversed with treatment. Underweight AN showed abnormal neural activity in striatum and dorsal anterior cingulate; normalization of behavior was associated with increased activation in reward regions (striatum and dorsal anterior cingulate) and decision-making regions (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex). CONCLUSIONS The undernourished state of AN may amplify the tendency to forgo immediate rewards in favor of longer-term goals. The results suggest that behavior that looks phenotypically like excessive self-control does not correspond with enhanced prefrontal recruitment. Rather, the results point to alterations in cingulostriatal circuitry that offer new insights on the potential role of abnormalities in decision-making neural systems in the perpetuation of AN.