Emotional processing in recovered anorexia nervosa patients: A 15 year longitudinal study.

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Title:	Emotional processing in recovered anorexia nervosa patients: A 15 year longitudinal study.
Authors:	Castro, Telma Fontão (AUTHOR), Miller, Kylee (AUTHOR), Araújo, Maria Xavier (AUTHOR), Brandão, Isabel (AUTHOR), Torres, Sandra (AUTHOR)
Source:	European Eating Disorders Review. Nov2021, Vol. 29 Issue 6, p955-968. 14p.
Subjects:	Convalescence, Mental depression, Emotions, Anorexia nervosa, Anxiety, Longitudinal method
Abstract:	Objective: This 15 years longitudinal study aimed to examine whether difficulties in cognitive processing of emotions persisted after long‐term recovery from anorexia nervosa (AN), and its link to anxiety and depression. Method: Twenty‐four females, who were tested longitudinally during their acute and recovered AN phases, and 24 healthy control (HC) women, were screened for anxiety, depression, alexithymia, emotion regulation difficulties (ER; only assessed in recovery phase), and completed an experimental task to analyse emotional experience. Results: In spite of significant improvement in alexithymia, anxiety, and depression with AN recovery, some emotion functioning difficulties did not normalize. The occurrence of comorbid anxiety and depression explained the reduced ability to identify, understand, and accept emotions in long‐term recovery (relative to controls), but not the increased global difficulty in using ER strategies, which revealed a more stable nature of deficit. With recovery, negative emotions linked to situations addressing food and body weight are felt more intensely. Conclusions: Managing emotions, especially the negative ones, remains a challenge for individuals recovered from AN. Under this circumstance, maladaptive eating behaviour can serve as an affect regulatory function, increasing the risk of relapse. Emotional education is an important avenue in protecting long‐term AN relapse. Highlights: Impaired emotional functioning tends to normalize with long‐term AN recovery. Nevertheless, greater difficulties in emotion regulation (ER) seem to persistAnxiety and depression only explained difficulties in emotional clarity and acceptanceER difficulties can be a risk factor for long‐term AN relapse [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection

Description
Abstract:	Objective: This 15 years longitudinal study aimed to examine whether difficulties in cognitive processing of emotions persisted after long‐term recovery from anorexia nervosa (AN), and its link to anxiety and depression. Method: Twenty‐four females, who were tested longitudinally during their acute and recovered AN phases, and 24 healthy control (HC) women, were screened for anxiety, depression, alexithymia, emotion regulation difficulties (ER; only assessed in recovery phase), and completed an experimental task to analyse emotional experience. Results: In spite of significant improvement in alexithymia, anxiety, and depression with AN recovery, some emotion functioning difficulties did not normalize. The occurrence of comorbid anxiety and depression explained the reduced ability to identify, understand, and accept emotions in long‐term recovery (relative to controls), but not the increased global difficulty in using ER strategies, which revealed a more stable nature of deficit. With recovery, negative emotions linked to situations addressing food and body weight are felt more intensely. Conclusions: Managing emotions, especially the negative ones, remains a challenge for individuals recovered from AN. Under this circumstance, maladaptive eating behaviour can serve as an affect regulatory function, increasing the risk of relapse. Emotional education is an important avenue in protecting long‐term AN relapse. Highlights: Impaired emotional functioning tends to normalize with long‐term AN recovery. Nevertheless, greater difficulties in emotion regulation (ER) seem to persistAnxiety and depression only explained difficulties in emotional clarity and acceptanceER difficulties can be a risk factor for long‐term AN relapse [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	10724133
DOI:	10.1002/erv.2858