Subliminal activation of abandonment- and eating-related schemata: relationship with eating disordered attitudes in a nonclinical population

The effect of parental rejection on the emotional eating behaviour of youngsters: A laboratory-based study

Results from survey studies demonstrate a relationship between parental rejection and self-reported emotional eating of youngsters. The aim of the current study was to build on this research by examining the relationship between parental rejection and actual emotional eating, using an experimental laboratory paradigm. Participants were 46 youngsters between the ages of 10 and 17 years old. Participants first completed online questionnaires at home, measuring parental rejection and emotional eating style. At the laboratory, participants were randomly assigned to a neutral condition or negative mood condition, followed by a multi-item snack buffet. The interaction effect maternal rejection × condition on energy intake from savoury food was significant. More maternal rejection predicted more energy intake from savoury food in the negative mood condition, but not in the neutral condition. The results highlight the importance of assessing, and if mandatory, improving the emotional bond between parent and child in the prevention and intervention of emotional eating.

A narrative review of schemas and schema therapy outcomes in the eating disorders

Whilst cognitive-behavioural therapy has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of eating disorders, therapy outcomes and current conceptualizations still remain inadequate. In light of these shortcomings there has been growing interest in the utility of schema therapy applied to eating pathology. The present article first provides a narrative review of empirical literature exploring schemas and schema processes in eating disorders. Secondly, it critically evaluates outcome studies assessing schema therapy applied to eating disorders. Current evidence lends support to schema-focused conceptualizations of eating pathology and confirms that eating disorders are characterised by pronounced maladaptive schemas. Treatment outcomes also indicate that schema therapy, the schema-mode approach, and associated techniques are promising interventions for complex eating disorders. Implications for clinical practice and future directions for research are discussed.

Eating disorder behavior and early maladaptive schemas in subgroups of eating disorders

To examine relationship between Eating Disorder Behaviors (EDB) and Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) across eating disorder (ED) subgroups. EMS and ED behaviors were measured by Young Schema Questionnaire and Eating Behavior Severity Scale, respectively, among patients diagnosed with Restrictive or Binge/purging Anorexia, or bulimia nervosa. Canonical component analysis showed significant association between ED behaviors and EMSs. Canonical factor-pairs (EDB and EMS) revealed specific associations between certain patterns of EDBs, including binge-purging and physical exercise, and certain patterns of maladaptive cognitive schema, including Emotional deprivation, Abandonment, Enmeshments, Subjugation, and Emotional inhibition. ED subgroups significantly differred between the EMS and EDB canonical factors, respectively. Our findings indicate that EMS and EDB are associated, and that the factors that potentially mediate the association differ significantly among ED subgroups. These results are consistent with the notion that EMSs play a specific role in the development and maintenance of ED behaviors.

Food-associated cues alter forebrain functional connectivity as assessed with immediate early gene and proenkephalin expression

Background

Cues predictive of food availability are powerful modulators of appetite as well as food-seeking and ingestive behaviors. The neurobiological underpinnings of these conditioned responses are not well understood. Monitoring regional immediate early gene expression is a method used to assess alterations in neuronal metabolism resulting from upstream intracellular and extracellular signaling. Furthermore, assessing the expression of multiple immediate early genes offers a window onto the possible sequelae of exposure to food cues, since the function of each gene differs. We used immediate early gene and proenkephalin expression as a means of assessing food cue-elicited regional activation and alterations in functional connectivity within the forebrain.

Results

Contextual cues associated with palatable food elicited conditioned motor activation and corticosterone release in rats. This motivational state was associated with increased transcription of the activity-regulated genes homer1a, arc, zif268, ngfi-b and c-fos in corticolimbic, thalamic and hypothalamic areas and of proenkephalin within striatal regions. Furthermore, the functional connectivity elicited by food cues, as assessed by an inter-regional multigene-expression correlation method, differed substantially from that elicited by neutral cues. Specifically, food cues increased cortical engagement of the striatum, and within the nucleus accumbens, shifted correlations away from the shell towards the core. Exposure to the food-associated context also induced correlated gene expression between corticostriatal networks and the basolateral amygdala, an area critical for learning and responding to the incentive value of sensory stimuli. This increased corticostriatal-amygdalar functional connectivity was absent in the control group exposed to innocuous cues.

Conclusion

The results implicate correlated activity between the cortex and the striatum, especially the nucleus accumbens core and the basolateral amygdala, in the generation of a conditioned motivated state that may promote excessive food intake. The upregulation of a number of genes in unique patterns within corticostriatal, thalamic, and hypothalamic networks suggests that food cues are capable of powerfully altering neuronal processing in areas mediating the integration of emotion, cognition, arousal, and the regulation of energy balance. As many of these genes play a role in plasticity, their upregulation within these circuits may also indicate the neuroanatomic and transcriptional correlates of extinction learning.

Core beliefs and social anxiety in the eating disorders

Social anxiety is a common comorbid problem in the eating disorders. The present study investigated whether specific types of core beliefs are common in eating-disordered individuals presenting with high levels of social anxiety. The participants were a group of 191 women meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV (DSM-IV) criteria for an eating disorder. Young's Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-S) was used as a measure of core beliefs, while a brief version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation scale (Brief FNE) was used as a measure of social anxiety. The results showed that eating-disordered individuals with high levels of comorbid social anxiety report higher levels of socially-oriented core beliefs (abandonment; defectiveness/shame) than those who experience low levels of social anxiety. The findings highlight the potential importance of addressing core beliefs in specific groups of eating-disordered individuals. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

Effects of priming thoughts about control on anxiety and food intake as moderated by dietary restraint

The study was designed to examine: (a) if activating thoughts about control affects anxiety and food intake and (b) if those effects are moderated by dietary restraint. Eighty female undergraduates were administered the Dietary Restraint questionnaire and were primed for cognitions of control or of lack of control. The participants' perceptions of control over food consumption, their state anxiety, and their food intake as part of an alleged taste-test, were assessed. As evidence for the effectiveness of priming, participants reported less control over food consumption after being primed for lack of control than for control cognitions. As expected, Restraint score was negatively correlated with perceived control over food consumption. Consistent with hypothesis, participants high in dietary restraint experienced greater anxiety after being primed for control than after priming for lack of control, whereas participants low in dietary restraint displayed the opposite pattern. These findings were consistent with the cognitive dissonance principle that individuals experience greater anxiety when cognitions are inconsistent with personal beliefs than when they are consistent. As expected, priming thoughts of lack of control resulted in greater food intake than did priming thoughts of control, supporting the hypothesis of a nonconscious, automatic link between cognitions and food intake.

An experimental analysis of the role of schema compensation in anorexia nervosa

It has been suggested that the relatively poor effectiveness of treatments for anorexia nervosa is due to a poor conceptualisation of the disorder. One hypothesis is that current models are mistakenly targeting superficial, instead of deeper level, cognitions and cognitive processes. A schema-based cognitive-behavioural model of eating disorder pathology suggests that the process of schema compensation is key to restrictive pathology-when there is the threat of experiencing negative affect, compensatory schemas are activated, reducing that affect. The current experimental study aimed to provide support for such a process. Eating-disordered and control women completed a computer-based task, measuring the compensation process in terms of speed and accuracy in response to subliminal threat cues. The results did not fully support the hypothesis, suggesting that the model and methodology need some amendment. Improvements to the methodology are discussed.

Personal and family food choice schemas of rural women in upstate New York

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to gain conceptual understanding of the cognitive processes involved in food choice among low- to moderate-income rural women.

DESIGN

This interpretivist study used grounded theory methods and a theory-guided approach.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING

Sixteen women aged 18 to 50 years from varied household compositions were purposefully recruited in an upstate New York rural county.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed using the constant comparative method.

RESULTS

Study participants held both personal and family food choice schemas characterized by food meanings and behavioral scripts. Food meanings encompassed self-reported beliefs and feelings associated with food. Food choice scripts described behavioral plans for regularized food and eating situations. Five personal food choice schemas (dieter, health fanatic, picky eater, nonrestrictive eater, inconsistent eater) and 4 family food choice schemas (peacekeeper, healthy provider, struggler, partnership) emerged.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The findings advance conceptual understanding of the cognitive processes involved in food choice by demonstrating the existence of different food choice schemas for personal and family food choice situations. Further study is needed on food choice schemas in different populations in various food and eating situations.