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Emotional aspects of anorexia nervosa: results of prospective naturalistic cognitive behavioral group therapy

Emotionale Aspekte der Anorexia Nervosa – Ergebnisse einer prospektiven kognitiv behavioralen Gruppentherapie

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Summary

Background

Anorexic girls have difficulties in handling their emotions. We examined emotional problems of adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa (AN) during the course of cognitive behavioral group therapy (G-CBT).

Methods

Overall, 29 girls with AN (age 13–17 years) participated in four groups of manual based G-CBT. We assessed the body mass index (BMI), eating behavior psychopathology, emotions, depression, hedonistic activities, self-care and-efficacy, social phobia, sense of coherence (SOC), and alexithymia before, during and up to 1 year after therapy.

Results

Out of 29, 16 (55 %, intent to treat, or 76 %, per protocol) girls were successfully treated, 5 (17 or 24 %) had a “poor outcome”, and 8 (28 %) dropped out. BMI, eating behavior, mood, social anxiety, self-care, and self-efficacy persistently improved. Anorexic girls had multiple emotional deficits, low self-confidence, and exaggerated needs of control and of being accepted. Emotional deficits were resistant to change. Hedonistic activities, social skills, and recovery from depression were positive, comorbid disorders and parental psychopathology negative prognostic factors.

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None of the authors declares any conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18–20, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Susanne Ohmann PhD, Christian Popow MD, Andreas Karwautz MD, Petra Sackl-Pammer PhD & Bibiana Schuch PhD

  2. Institute for Statistics and Mathematics, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria

    Marcus Wurzer

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  1. Susanne Ohmann PhD
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  2. Christian Popow MD
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  3. Marcus Wurzer
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  4. Andreas Karwautz MD
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Correspondence to Christian Popow MD.

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Ohmann, S., Popow, C., Wurzer, M. et al. Emotional aspects of anorexia nervosa: results of prospective naturalistic cognitive behavioral group therapy. Neuropsychiatr 27, 119–128 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40211-013-0065-7

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