Clinical, Psychopathological and Personality Correlates of Interoceptive Awareness in Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa and Obesity

Abstract

Objective: To determine the levels of interoceptive awareness (IA), which measures the ability of an individual to discriminate between sensations and feelings, and between the sensations of hunger and satiety, in eating disorder patients and to identify the clinical, psychopathological and personal variables correlated with IA. Sampling andMethods: Sixty-one restrictor anorectics, 61 binge-purging anorectics, 104 purging bulimics, 49 obese subjects with binge eating disorder (BED) and 47 obese subjects without BED were compared. They were assessed with the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, the Temperament and Character Inventory, and the Beck Depression Inventory, and their clinical and sociodemographic features were recorded. Results: In all patients, the levels of IA were higher than the ‘normal’ ones; in bulimia nervosa, they were higher than in anorexia nervosa and obesity. Similar personal features and eating attitudes are shared by patients with bulimia nervosa and BED. In the total sample, the following variables independently correlate with IA: the Beck Depression Inventory, self- directedness and persistence. Conclusions: The importance of an altered IA in eating disorders is supported. Both depression and a perfectionist and poorly self-directive personality can lead to greater difficulties in discriminating hunger and satiety.

An Explorative Analysis of Binge Eating Disorder Impulsivity among Obese Candidates to Bariatric Surgery

“…Non planning impulsivity has a higher score than obese non BED but the internal analysis of BIS-11 factors show a less increase. This data is consistent with the other studies [58,59,61] underlining that the inability to think for future (non-planning) seems not to be specific of BED, but can be inserted in the spectrum of Impulse Control disorder to which BED could belong [57,[62][63][64][65][66][67]. Moreover, the high score of EDI-2 Interoceptive Awareness subscale testify the lack of body stimuli perception: specifically the ability to distinguish hunger or satiety signals.…”

“…It strongly contributes to the complete dysregulation of the impulsive system in obese BED compared to obese non BED. High score of Interoceptive Awareness can be related to high level of Cognitive Factor and affected the reward-related decision making determining the impossibility to stop eating [14,61,67]. Data analysis highlights that impulsivity in obese BED seems to be a very articulated construct formed by disrupt of impulsivity system associated to a dysregulation of the emotional regulation system.…”

Anorexia nervosa and autism spectrum disorders: Guided investigation of social cognitive endophenotypes.

“…In essence, an individual with AN is disconnected from her internal experiences and thus does not use internal signals of hunger, fatigue, or affective state to guide behavior effectively (Miller, Redlich, & Steiner, 2003). This lack of integration is further compounded by difficulties in interpreting internal emotional experiences, deficits often referred to as poor interoceptive awareness (Fassino, Piero, Gramaglia, & Abbate-Daga, 2004).Given this profound level of disturbance of the individual with AN in interaction with herself, why study interpersonal interaction in AN? There are several compelling reasons.…”

Understanding the Function of Emotional Eating: Does it Buffer the Stress Response and Help Us Cope

“…These results were surprising given that alexithymia is thought to be highly related to poor interoceptive awareness-a hallmark of eating disturbances (Fassino, Pierò, Gramaglia, & Abbate-Daga, 2004). While the TAS-20 has been the primary measure used to assess alexithymia in the growing body of research on the topic,…”