Do girls with anorexia nervosa have elevated autistic traits?

The predictive value of the early maladaptive schemas in social situations in anorexia nervosa

“…Both populations showed lower mood changes after the social exclusion experience, even if they are able to recognize the exclusive condition (Sebastian, Blakemore, & Charman, ; Trimmer, McDonald, Kelly, & Rushby, ). Thus, these results may reinforce the idea of the presence of similarities between AN and ASD in the ability to recognize and process emotions, even if this remains an open field of research with more studies needed (Baron‐Cohen et al, ; Kerr‐Gaffney et al, ; Oldershaw, Treasure, Hambrook, Tchanturia, & Schmidt, ; Westwood & Tchanturia, ). As shown in ASD literature, this impairment could not be just a depressive symptom (e.g., alexithymia) also in AN: it could be a trait inability that may be improved with specific interventions over coping and emotion recognition/regulation (Tchanturia, Doris, Mountford, & Fleming, ).…”

Exploring Emotion Recognition in Adults and Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa Using a Body Motion Paradigm

“…For example, problems with emotion recognition have been consistently demonstrated in the schizophrenia literature when using PLW (Brittain, Ffytche, & Surguladze, 2012;Couture et al, 2010), and similar results have been described for individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (Hubert et al, 2007;Nackaerts et al, 2012). Given the evidence of the high prevalence of autistic traits in people with AN ( Baron-Cohen et al, 2013;Gillberg, 1983;Tchanturia, Smith, et al, 2013;Treasure, 2013;Zucker et al, 2007), some difficulties in this ability are to be expected.…”

The Clinical Implications of High Levels of Autism Spectrum Disorder Features in Anorexia Nervosa: A Pilot Study

“…Associations between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits and anorexia nervosa (AN) have been noted in previous literature (Baron-Cohen et al, 2013;Gillberg, 1985;Hambrook, Tchanturia, Schmidt, Russell, & Treasure, 2008;Huke, Turk, Saeidi, Kent, & Morgan, 2013;Wentz Nilsson, Gillberg, & Råstam, 1998;Wentz et al, 2005;Zucker et al, 2007). Despite this, clinical implications remain unclear.…”