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Emotional regulation and attachment in adolescents with anorexia nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

O. Khaustova  and
L. Sak
O. Khaustova*
Affiliation:
Medical Psychology, Psychosomatic Medicine & Psychotherapy, Bogomolets National Medical University, Kiyv, Ukraine
L. Sak
Affiliation:
Medical Psychology, Psychosomatic Medicine & Psychotherapy, Bogomolets National Medical University, Kiyv, Ukraine
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The aim of the present study was to investigate emotional regulation and attachment in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN).

Objectives

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder (ED) characterized by self-starvation driving by weight, shape, and eating concerns and extreme dread of food, eating, and normal body weight. Dysfunctional emotional processing and regulation play an important role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders (EDs). Difficulties with emotional awareness and regulation in EDs are hypothesized to have their origins in childhood attachment.

Methods

The study population (N=20) consists of two research groups of patients with AN (group A) and general population controls (group B), matched for gender and age. The age of patients was 12-18 years. All adolescents were female. This study examined the attachment states of mind, assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and emotion regulation difficulties, measured by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS).

Results

Group A reported significantly higher attachment insecurity (82% vs 50%) than group B. Group A show higher DERS total (nonacceptance, goals, and impulsivity scores) than group B.

Conclusions

Study results show a crucial role of attachment insecurity and emotional dysregulation in the development and maintenance of AN. Developing interventions to improve emotional management skills in the treatment of patients with AN can be an important component in improving treatment outcomes.

Keywords

anorexia nervosaEmotional RegulationattachmentDERS
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S353
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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