Nineteen obese female subjects with body mass index ranging between 30 and 40 were included in a double-blind crossover study aimed at evaluating the effects of oral 5-hydroxytryptophan administration on feeding behavior, mood state and weight loss. Either 5-hydroxytryptophan (8 mg/kg/day) or placebo was administered for five weeks during which patients were not prescribed any dietary restrictions. Feeding behavior was investigated by means of a questionnaire designed to establish the onset of anorexia and related symptoms. Food intake was evaluated using a three-day diet diary. BDI, SI, STAI-T, and STAI-S were used to assess mood state. The administration of 5-hydroxytryptophan resulted in no changes in mood state but promoted typical anorexia-related symptoms, decreased food intake and weight loss during the period of observation.

A conceptual model of Type A behaviour pattern (TABP) is presented which frames the pattern in terms of current cognitive‐behavioural psychology and in the wider context of the psychosocial risk factors of CHD. Type A behaviours are considered as stemming from Type A appraisals, elicited in specific situations in individuals with enhanced emotional reactivity who hold a system of beliefs identifiable as Type A. A study was performed in order to assess the possible associations of personality dimensions such as extraversion and neuroticism to TABP and identify specific dysfunctional beliefs associated with TABP. The Bortner Rating Scale (BRS) was administered as a measure of TABP, together with the Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) for measuring extraversion and neuroticism and a shortened version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), in a random subsample of a male white‐collar population screened in the worksite for cardiovascular risk factors (N = 200). BRS scores showed a high direct correlation with DAS total scores (r = 0.64), a significant one with neuroticism (r = 0.29) and a weaker one with extraversion (r = 0.15). DAS was factor analysed and a solution found identifying eight factors. Two of them were correlated with TABP, namely ‘support‐reliance’, directly correlated, and ‘self‐confidence’, inversely. At a robust stepwise multiple regression analysis, using the above psychometric measures as independent variables and BRS scores as dependent variable, a model was found accounting for 35 per cent of variance of TABP distribution. The findings give partial support to the model proposed. The identified dysfunctional beliefs involved a higher sense of dependency of Type A individuals. A prospective study is under way to assess the possible predictive power of these cognitive factors. If confirmed, the model could partially account for inconsistencies of empirical findings in TABP studies.

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