Interactional group therapy for anorexic and bulimic women.

Describes interactional group therapy for anorexic and bulimic women, as it was used for 12 groups (with 4–8 Ss each) conducted over 4.5 yrs. Bulimics and anorexics were combined because it is believed that the 2 types of eating-disordered patients have much that they can learn from each other. Group themes particularly relevant to eating-disordered women are discussed, including confidentiality, sexuality, commonalities between the 2 types, and transference. Stages in the evolution of the group and strategies for facilitating group process are reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SPI discriminators among four psychological health-sickness levels.

Formed criterion groups representing 4 psychological health-sickness levels for each sex from among 87 hospitalized psychiatric patients and 145 normal adults on the basis of clinical judgments, and for normals, on the basis of an MMPI severity of pathology index. Magnitudes of mean scores for 14 scales of the Spiegel Personality Inventory were in rank order of pathology level for males and females. Univariate and multivariate methods were used to select 10 of the most promising scales: deviant response, deterioration feeling, self-dissatisfaction, intrusive thought, alienation, dread, future planlessness, olfactory minimizing, auditory minimizing, and tactual minimizing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical, psychological, and societal correlates of bulimic symptomatology among African American college women.

Although eating disorders have been the focus of considerable research, African American women generally have been overlooked, despite recent investigations indicating they also are at risk. In this study, the authors examined physical, psychological, and societal correlates of bulimic symptomatology in African American college women. Regression analysis revealed that body mass, body dissatisfaction, and low self-esteem were significantly related to bulimic symptomatology, accounting for 29% of the variance. Internalization of U.S. societal beliefs about attractiveness, level of identification with White culture, and level of depression, however, were not significant predictors of bulimic symptoms in the regression equation. The findings are discussed in the context of sociocultural approaches to understanding eating disorders. Implications for counseling interventions as well as directions for future research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body image in obese women before, during, and after weight loss treatment.

Body image, as measured by the Appearance Evaluation and Body Areas Satisfaction scales of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (T. F. Cash, 1994b), was assessed in 59 obese women before, during, and after 48 weeks of weight loss treatment. Before treatment, positive ratings of body image were associated with higher levels of self-esteem, lower levels of dysphoria, and fewer previous diets. After 24 weeks and a mean weight loss of 19.4 kg (SD?=?6.5), participants showed significant (p ?p ?     

A comparative study of defense styles of bulimic, anorexic and normal females

Epidemiologic, in vitro, and in vivo studies support the hypothesis that mammalian lignans have cancer protective effects. Flaxseed is the richest source of plant precursors to mammalian lignans. However, there are limited data on the lignans from processed foods containing flaxseed, despite increasing flaxseed use. Thus the objective of this study was to quantify the lignans in flaxseed-containing processed foods and their relationship to the percent flaxseed in the food. Twenty-five foods including raw flaxseed, homemade products containing flaxseed, and commercial breads and breakfast cereals with and without flaxseed were subjected to an in vitro fermentation designed to simulate the colonic environment necessary for the conversion of plant precursors to mammalian lignans. The lignan production from cereals containing flaxseed was significantly greater than that from their component grains (p < or = 0.01), and the lignan production from breads containing > 4% flaxseed was significantly greater than that from breads containing < 4% flaxseed (p < or = 0.05). Lignan production was significantly related to percent flaxseed in homemade products (r = 0.95, p < or = 0.01) and breakfast cereals (r = 0.997, p < or = 0.0001). Although a significant relationship was also observed in commercial breads (r = 0.58, p < or = 0.05), the correlation was lower because of the variability in different flaxseed varieties and the lignan contribution from other grains and oilseeds in these products. In conclusion, the addition of flaxseed to processed foods increased the production of mammalian lignans significantly. The amount of lignan production was linearly dependent on the percent flaxseed but was also influenced by other grains and the variety of flaxseed.     

Weight cycling, psychological health, and binge eating in obese women.

This study examined the relationship between weight cycling and psychological health in 120 obese women. Weight cycling was defined in 2 ways by retrospective self-report: total lifetime weight loss and total number of weight cycles ≥20 lbs ( ≥9.07 kg). Psychological self-report measures assessed psychiatric symptoms, eating behavior, mood, stress, and perceptions of physical health. Of the 52 associations between weight cycling and psychological parameters, 8 were significant, with the most consistent association being between weight cycling and binge eating. Binge eating was also strongly associated with psychological distress, as found in previous studies. After adjusting for binge eating, however, weight cycling was independently related to only one of the psychological measures: perceived physical health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body dissatisfaction, self-focus, and dieting status among women.

Examined body shape preferences, body dissatisfaction, and self-focus between dieters and nondieters. Ss were 70 women. 35 were classified as chronic dieters, and 35 were classified as nondieters. Dieters were found to be more dissatisfied with their bodies than were nondieters. Although dieters did not have more stringent standards for body shape than nondieters, there was a larger discrepancy between ideal and current shape for dieters owing to their greater body weights. Dieters were also found to be highly and negatively self-focused on the Exner Sentence Completion Task. Dieting status was correlated with public rather than private self-consciousness, suggesting that dieters were concerned with their public image. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and bulimia: The link between depression and bulimic cognitions.

29 bulimics and 16 controls from the general population were first assessed on levels of depression using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia—Change Version and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Bulimics were significantly more depressed than controls. Bulimics differed significantly from controls on all cognitive measures associated with depression (Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, and Attributional Style Questionnaire), but differences on these measures were nonsignificant when depression, as measured by the BDI, was controlled. Bulimics differed from controls regardless of level of depression on the 3 scales of the Restraint Inventory, the Rationalization and All-or-None scales of the Thoughts About Eating Inventory, and most of the 8 scales of the Eating Disorders Inventory. Bulimics showed more maladaptive thinking associated with depression, but these differences likely reflect the levels of depression for each group. The differences on the measures of cognitive and behavioral symptoms of bulimia remained when the level of depression was controlled statistically. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perfectionism, perceived weight status, and self-esteem interact to predict bulimic symptoms: A model of bulimic symptom development.

An interactive model of perfectionism, perceived weight status, and self-esteem was tested on 342 female undergraduates to predict bulimic symptoms. Using a longitudinal design, the authors tested the model on data collected at 2 points: the spring of participants' senior year of high school and during participants' first year of college. The authors hypothesized and found that self-esteem moderates the interaction between perfectionism and perceived weight status in predicting bulimic symptoms. Women who are high in perfectionism and who consider themselves overweight exhibit bulimic symptoms only if they have low self-esteem (i.e., if they doubt they can attain their high body standards). High self-esteem women with the same diathesis-stress conditions are less likely to exhibit bulimic symptoms. These findings clarify the role of perfectionism in bulimic symptomatology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Planning to lose weight: Randomized controlled trial of an implementation intention prompt to enhance weight reduction among overweight and obese women.

Objective: The trial investigates the effects of augmenting an established weight-reduction intervention with implementation intention prompts. Design: Fifty-five overweight or obese women (ages 18 to 76 years; body mass index from 25.28 to 48.33) enrolled in a commercial weight reduction program were randomly assigned to either an implementation intention prompt or a control condition. Data were collected twice, with a time gap of 2 months. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was participants' change in weight and body mass index from preintervention to follow-up. Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed a significant Time = Condition interaction: On average, implementation intention prompt participants lost 4.2 kg (95% confidence interval = 3.19, 5.07), whereas control participants lost 2.1 kg (95% confidence interval = 1.11, 3.09). The change in frequency of planning mediated the effects of the intervention on weight and body mass index change. Conclusion: Among obese or overweight women participating in a commercial weight loss program, those who learn to form implementation intentions can achieve greater weight reduction. Planning facilitation is a key mechanism explaining enhanced weight loss generated by implementation intention formation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body perceptions of bulimic and nonbulimic groups

A 57-year-old man with a history of having consumed fresh-water crab 8 months previously presented with a solitary mass lesion in the left lung without any symptoms. Since neoplastic disease could not be ruled out, an open biopsy was performed, and histological examination confirmed a definite diagnosis of paragonimiasis. A high level of the anti-Paragonimus westermani antibody was detected in the sera of the patient, but this level decreased substantially 3 months after chemotherapy with bithionol.     

Body dissatisfaction, ethnic identity, and disordered eating among African American women.

Initial research suggested that only European American women developed eating disorders (Garner, 1993), yet recent studies have shown that African American women do experience them (e.g., Lester & Petrie, 1998b; Mulholland & Mintz, 2001) and also may be negatively affected by similar sociocultural variables. In this study, we examined a sociocultural model of eating disorders for African American women but included the influences of ethnic identity (e.g., Hall, 1995; Helms, 1990). Participants (N = 322) were drawn from 5 different universities. They completed measures representing ethnic identity, societal pressures regarding thinness, internalization of societal beauty ideals, body image concerns, and disordered eating. Structural equation modeling revealed that ethnic identity was inversely, and societal pressures regarding thinness directly, related to internalization of societal beauty ideals. Societal pressures regarding thinness was also related to greater body image concerns. Both internalization of societal beauty ideals and body image concerns were positively associated with disordered eating (R2 = .79). Overall, the final model fit the data well, supporting its generalizability and the importance of ethnic identity in determining risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex trading and psychological distress among women on methadone.

This study examined the relationship between sex trading and psychological distress among a nonrandom sample of women recruited from 3 methadone maintenance clinics in New York City. Face-to-face interviews with 280 women (M age?=?40.7) revealed that 32% had traded sex for money or drugs in the previous year. Compared to other participants, these women reported less education and higher rates of incarceration in the past year, sexually transmitted diseases, childhood sexual abuse, partner abuse, and current regular crack/cocaine and alcohol use. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that sex traders scored 0.41 units higher than non-sex traders on the General Severity Index of the Brief Symptom Inventory after controlling for all relevant covariates. The findings emphasize the need to consider the interrelation of psychological distress, abuse, and addiction in designing public health interventions addressing methadone maintained women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body weight reduction, sympathetic nerve traffic, and arterial baroreflex in obese normotensive humans

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that sympathetic cardiovascular outflow is increased in obese normotensive subjects and that this increase is associated with a baroreflex impairment. The purpose of this study was to determine whether these abnormalities are irreversible or can be favorably affected by body weight reduction. METHODS AND RESULTS: In 20 obese normotensive subjects (age, 31.3+/-1.7 years; body mass index, 37.6+/-0.9 kg/m2, mean+/-SEM), we measured beat-to-beat arterial blood pressure (Finapres technique), heart rate (ECG), postganglionic muscle sympathetic nerve activity (microneurography at a peroneal nerve), and venous plasma norepinephrine (high-performance liquid chromatography) at rest and during baroreceptor stimulation and deactivation induced by increases and reductions of blood pressure via stepwise intravenous infusions of phenylephrine and nitroprusside. Measurements were repeated in 10 subjects after a 16-week hypocaloric diet with normal sodium content (4600 to 5000 J and 210 mmol NaCl/d) and in the remaining 10 subjects after a 16-week observation period without any reduction in the caloric intake. The hypocaloric diet significantly reduced body mass index, slightly reduced blood pressure, and caused a significant and marked decrease in both muscle sympathetic nerve activity (from 50.0+/-5.1 to 32.9+/-4.6 bursts per 100 heart beats, P<.01) and plasma norepinephrine (from 356.2+/-43 to 258.4+/-29 pg/mL, P<.05). This was associated with a significant improvement in the sensitivity of the baroreceptor heart rate (+71.5 +/- 11%, P<.01) and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (+124.5 +/- 22%, P<.001) reflex. Total body glucose uptake also increased significantly (+60.8 +/- 12.0%, P<.05), indicating an increase in insulin sensitivity. All variables remained unchanged in subjects not undergoing caloric restriction. CONCLUSIONS: In obese normotensive subjects, a reduction in body weight induced by a hypocaloric diet with normal sodium content exerts a marked reduction in sympathetic activity owing to central sympathoinhibition. This can be due to the consequences of an increased insulin sensitivity but also to a restoration of the baroreflex control of the cardiovascular system with weight loss.     

Psychopathology of eating disorders: A controlled comparison of bulimic, obese, and normal subjects.

15 bulimic females (mean age 20.8 yrs), 15 obese females (mean age 21.4 yrs), and 15 normal female controls (mean age 21.6 yrs) were administered the MMPI, the SCL-90, the Beck Depression Inventory, and a body image assessment. Results show that bulimics evidenced significantly more psychopathology than did the normal and obese Ss. In particular, bulimics were found to be more depressed, more anxious, and generally more neurotic and impulsive. Bulimics also evidenced a distorted body image in that they perceived themselves as significantly larger and desired to be significantly smaller than did height- and weight-matched controls. Bulimic and obese Ss showed some similarities in eating habits and psychopathology, especially regarding obsessiveness, impulsivity, guilt, preoccupation, and alienation. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual complexity and obsessionality in bulimic college women.

Conceptual simplicity and high levels of obsessionality have been suggested as perpetuating factors in eating disorders, more specifically bulimia. Our study examined the relationship between bulimia, conceptual complexity, obsessional symptoms, and obsessional traits in 54 college women, ages 19–35. On the basis of a structured interview and an Eating Attitudes Test-26 score, participants were placed in one of four groups: (a) bulimic-anorexic vomiters (n?=?13), (b) normal-weight bulimic vomiters (n?=?13), (c) clinical controls (n?=?13), and (d) normal controls (n?=?15). The participants were given the Paragraph Completion Method (Hunt, Butler, Noy, & Rosser, 1978), a measure of levels of conceptual development, and the questionnaire form (Snowdon, 1980) of the Leyton Obsessional Inventory (Cooper, 1970), a measure of obsessional sysmptoms and traits. Our findings indicated that both bulimic groups, although similar to each other, exihibited significantly lower levels of conceptual functioning (p?p?p?     

A comparison of weight control and weight control plus body image therapy for obese men and women.

Participants were 65 obese men and women who were randomly assigned to either weight control or weight control plus cognitive–behavioral body image therapy. Both conditions showed clinically significant improvements in body image at posttreatment and 1-year follow-up. Adding body image therapy to weight control did not result in greater psychological improvements and did not result in better maintenance of body image change when participants regained weight after treatment. Weight loss and maintenance were equivalent between groups. Adding body image therapy did not improve or detract from weight loss. Although body image therapy has been shown to be effective in obese persons, it appears that a well-rounded cognitive–behavioral weight control program is effective as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations among age, exercise, and psychological variables in a community sample of women.

Age, exercise status, and their interaction were examined in relation to self-motivation, exercise self-efficacy, and attitudes toward exercise among a community sample of women aged 20 to 85 years. Random digit telephone dialing yielded 121 participants, stratified by age and exercise status. Age was negatively related to attitudes toward exercise and exercise self-efficacy but was unrelated to self-motivation. Age also interacted with exercise status; the belief that exercise would be enjoyable and beneficial decreased with increasing age only among nonexercisers. Finally, exercisers were significantly more self-motivated, had greater exercise self-efficacy, and had more positive attitudes toward exercise than did nonexercisers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguishing the role of eating disturbance from depression in the sex role self-perceptions of anorexic and bulimic inpatients.

Previous research has linked specific sex role self-perceptions to two major eating disorders: anorexia nervosa and bulimia. To date, however, sex role self-perceptions and ideals unique to eating disturbance have not been distinguished from those related to depression and other concomitant psychopathology. The Bem Sex-Role Inventory was administered twice (self-ratings and ideal self-ratings) to 83 women: 37 eating disorder inpatients, 12 depressed inpatients, and 34 high school and college students. Results indicate that both patient groups scored significantly lower (p?p?