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Porto, Portugal | September 20-22, 2012
55
women with body dissatisfaction and bulimic symptoms were
semi-randomly assigned to one of the two mirror exposure
conditions: a) pure mirror exposure (N = 12) and b) guided
mirror exposure (N = 11). All participants received six sessions
of 50-minutes exposure each and distributed twice a week.
Participants had to be focused on their bodies and try not to
avoid the discomfort. Body discomfort was measured every
5 minutes during the mirror exposure using a 10-point scale
(1=minimum; 10=maximum) within each session.
Results
.
The results showed a progressive and significant decrease
in subjective body discomfort within and between sessions in
both groups. However, these changes were notably higher in
the pure mirror exposure group.
Conclusions
. The findings
reveal that pure mirror exposure produces a greater emotional
response and a faster reduction, probably because it does not
interfere with the natural flow of expression of the negative
feelings, facilitating the processes of habituation and extinc-
tion of the body discomfort along the therapy.
F56
IMPLICIT MEASURES OF ASSOCIATIONS WITH HIGH
CALORIC FOODS RELATED TO EATING DISORDER
SYMPTOMS
Anne Roefs, Rachelle Sondeijker, Katrijn Houben, Anita
Jansen
Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
Introduction.
The reduced food consumption in eating
disorder (ED) patients may be due to a reduced reward value
of high-caloric (HC) foods. This study obtained separate
implicit measures of positive and negative associations with
HC foods, and tested the hypothesis that participants with ED
symptoms would show strong negative associations with HC
foods, but that also positive associations would be evident, al-
beit less strong than in healthy controls.
Methods.
28 healthy
and 26 participants with ED symptoms did two single-category
Implicit Association Tests (scIAT), one assessing positive
associations with HC foods and one assessing negative asso-
ciations with HC foods.
Results.
Participants with ED symp-
toms displayed stronger negative associations with HC foods
than did healthy controls. No difference was found on the
scIAT assessing positive associations with HC foods. Over-
all, participants had significant positive associations with HC
foods, with this effect being only significant in healthy controls
in subgroup analyses.
Conclusions.
Associations with HC
foods in participants with ED symptoms are strongly negative,
with no strong evidence for positive associations. In healthy
controls, negative associations with HC foods were far less
strong, and significant positive associations were observed.
So, HC foods seem ambivalent (positive and negative) for
healthy women whereas these foods are plain negative for
women with ED symptoms, even on implicit measures of
associations.
F57
INFORMATION PROCESING AND VISUO-SPATIAL MEMO-
RY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH ANOREXIA
NERVOSA
Mark R Rose
1
, Ian Frampton
2
, Bryan Lask
2, 3
1
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, Lon-
don, United Kingdom,
2
Regional Eating Disorders Service,
Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway,
3
Ellern Mede Eating
Disorders Service, London, United Kingdom
Introduction: The vast majority of studies investigating the
domains of information processing and visuo-spatial memory
in anorexia nervosa (AN) have focused on adult samples. In
addition, visuo-spatial memory studies have focused on free
recall. No study to date has reported the association between
recognition memory and information processing in young-
er people with AN. Method: These domains in 47 children
and adolescents with AN were compared with 47 age and
IQ matched healthy controls. Information processing was
assessed using measures of central coherence and organi-
sational strategy. Visuo-spatial memory was assessed using
immediate, delayed and recognition trials.
Results: There were no significant group differences in im-
mediate, delayed or recognition memory, central coherence
or organisation strategy. Patients with AN took significantly
longer to copy the RCFT and scored higher on accuracy
compared to controls, although the latter became non-signifi-
cant when using Bonferroni correction. Caution must be taken
when interpreting these findings due to lower than expected
memory performance scores in healthy controls and because
of a potential lack of sensitivity in the measures used when
assessing this younger population. Conclusion: For neuropsy-
chological functions where no normative data exists, we need
a deeper, more thorough knowledge of the developmental
trajectory and its assessment in young people in the general
population before drawing conclusions in AN.
F58
INTRANASAL OXYTOCIN REDUCES COGNITIVE RIGIDITY
IN ANOREXIA NERVOSA?
Janice Russell
1
, Adam Gaustella
2
, Sarah Maguire
3
, Adrienne
O’Dell
4
, Brooke Adam
5
1
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia,
2
The Univer-
sity of Sydney, Sydney, Australia,
3
The University of Sydney,
Sydney, Australia,
4
The University of Sydney, Sydney, Austra-
lia,
5
The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Recent research propose a link between anorexia nervosa
and autistic spectrum disorder, specifically these two dis-
orders share the common features of cognitive rigidity and
social anxiety both of which would be expected to impede
treatment acceptance and adherence and ultimately recovery.
In a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, female anorexia
nervosa patients in a residential treatment program receive
36 units per day of oxytocin or a placebo for 6 weeks. Testing
for cognitive rigidity and social anxiety along with a number
of other parameters concerning motivation, staging, autistic
spectrum and therapeutic alliance, is performed at baseline,
3 weeks, 6 weeks and 9 weeks. Serum levels of oxytocin,
ADH, cortisol, BDNF, osmolality and thyroid function tests
will be measured and correlations examined including those
between oxytocin and cognitive parameters. It is anticipated
that 80 patients will be studied in all; 40 receiving oxytocin
and 40 receiving normal saline. Cognitive testing thus far has
demonstrated marked changes in the Brixton, WCST and
RMET. Correlations with weight gain and other psychological
parameters will also be discussed. It is expected that at the
completion of the trial it will be possible to discern whether
oxytocin during inpatient refeeding affords additional benefit
with respect to reduced cognitive rigidity and social anxiety
along with improved motivation to change and therapeutic
alliance.
F59
Preventing the ‘3
rd
Generation’ of Eating Disorders: An
Evidence-Based Preventive Intervention Program in the
Family System for Mothers with EDs, their Spouses and
their Preschool Children (PIFS-ED)
Shiri Sadeh-Sharvit
1
, Eynat Zubery
1
, Esty Mankovski
1
, Yael
Latzer
2
, Evelyne Steiner
1
1
Eating Disorders Treatment and Research Center, Hanotrim
Clinic, Raanana Shalvata Mental Health Center. , Raanana,
Israel,
2
Eating Disorders Clinic, Psychiatry Division, Rambam
Medical Center, Haifa, Israel
An evidence-based Preventive Intervention program in the
Family System for mothers with EDs, their spouses and
preschool children, named PIFS-ED, is presented. Accu-
mulative findings suggest that children of mothers with EDs
are in high-risk of developing eating, socio-emotional, and
mental difficulties. We have designed and implemented in
our center a program which identifies these children, on the
verge of developing symptoms. The PIFS-ED focuses on
promoting parental efficacy, and supporting healthy feeding
practices. The program has 2 phases; part one is a short-
term semi-structured group for mothers only, focusing on
the transgenerational transmission of EDs in the family and
children’s feeding patterns. The second part consists of family
sessions in which we concentrate on reducing the presence
of the maternal ED in daily practice, encouraging father’s in-
volvement in family life, and raising the parents’ awareness of
their children hunger and satiety cues. In both parts, a strong
POSTER SESSION 2 ABSTRACTS