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Is there a Link between Exercise Addiction & Eating Disorders?

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Research Paper Title

A comparative meta-analysis of the prevalence of exercise addiction in adults with and without indicated eating disorders.

Background

Exercise addiction is associated with multiple adverse outcomes and can be classified as co-occurring with an eating disorder, or a primary condition with no indication of eating disorders.

The researchers conducted a meta-analysis exploring the prevalence of exercise addiction in adults with and without indicated eating disorders.

Methods

A systematic review of major databases and grey literature was undertaken from inception to 30/04/2019.

Studies reporting prevalence of exercise addiction with and without indicated eating disorders in adults were identified.

A random effect meta-analysis was undertaken, calculating odds ratios for exercise addiction with versus without indicated eating disorders.

Results

Nine studies with a total sample of 2140 participants (mean age = 25.06; 70.6% female) were included.

Within these, 1732 participants did not show indicated eating disorders (mean age = 26.4; 63.0% female) and 408 had indicated eating disorders (mean age = 23.46; 79.2% female).

The odds ratio for exercise addiction in populations with versus without indicated eating disorders was 3.71 (95% CI 2.00-6.89; I2 = 81; p  ≤ 0.001).

Exercise addiction prevalence in both populations differed according to the measurement instrument used.

Conclusions

Exercise addiction occurs more than three and a half times as often as a comorbidity to an eating disorder than in people without an indicated eating disorder.

The creation of a measurement tool able to identify exercise addiction risk in both populations would benefit researchers and practitioners by easily classifying samples.

Reference

Trott, M., Jackson, S.E., Firth, J., Jacob, L., Grabovac, I., Mistry, A., Stubbs, B. & Smith, L. (2020) A comparative meta-analysis of the prevalence of exercise addiction in adults with and without indicated eating disorders. Eating and Weight Disorders: EWD. doi: 10.1007/s40519-019-00842-1. [Epub ahead of print].

Intellectual Disabilities & Coexisting Mental Health Conditions

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Research Paper Title

Developmental stages and estimated prevalence of coexisting mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions and service use in youth with intellectual disabilities, 2011-2012.

Background

Few studies exist on mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions and service use among youth with intellectual disabilities (IDs), which makes it difficult to develop interventions for this population.

The objective of the study is to

  1. Estimate and compare the prevalence of mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions in youth with and without ID across three developmental stages; and
  2. Estimate and compare mental health service use in youth with and without ID across three developmental stages.

Methods

The researchers conducted secondary data analysis using cross-sectional data collected from caregivers completing the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health.

The data set represents a nationally representative sample of youth (0-17 years) in the USA with one child from each household being randomly selected.

Data were collected from caregivers in 50 states, Washington D.C. and the US Virgin Islands.

The researchers restricted the sample to parents of youth between 3-17 years (N = 81 510).

Results

Compared with youth without ID, youth ages 3-17 with ID had a statistically significantly higher prevalence of (1) mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions and (2) mental health care use and medication use for mental health and neurodevelopmental issues (other than attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

Clinically significant differences in coexisting conditions and service use were also found across developmental stages.

Conclusions

Youth with ID are at greater risk of having coexisting mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions than youth without ID and are more likely to receive treatment.

Therefore, clinicians should consider mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions and the unique needs of youth by developmental stage when tailoring interventions for youth with ID.

Reference

Comer-HaGans, D., Weller, B.E., Story, C. & Holton, J. (2020) Developmental stages and estimated prevalence of coexisting mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions and service use in youth with intellectual disabilities, 2011-2012. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. 64(3), pp.185-196. doi: 10.1111/jir.12708. Epub 2020 Jan 1.

Eight (2016)

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Introduction

A woman suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) struggles with her morning routine of trying to get to work on time.

Outline

Crippled by severe agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Sarah has not left her house in two years.

She has long since lost both her husband and daughter, and each and every day is lived going through a cycle of rituals repeated in series of eights.

But today Sarah will attempt to conquer her fears by fulfilling one simple yet seemingly impossible task: stepping out the front door.

Production & Filming Details

  • Director(s): Peter Blackburn.
  • Producer(s): Marie Adler, Peter Blackburn, Caitlin Johnston, and Graham Young.
  • Writer(s): Peter Blackburn.
  • Music: Ryan Walsh.
  • Cinematography: Brad Francis.
  • Editor(s): Joe Lancaster and Graham Young.
  • Production: Blacmac Productions.
  • Distributor(s): Adler & Associates Entertainment.
  • Release Date: 2016.
  • Running Time: 81 minutes.
  • Country: Australia.
  • Language: English.

OCD and Me (2015)

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Introduction

Most people have heard of it and many of us say we have a little bit of it, but what exactly is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

OCD and Me gives us a greater appreciation of this secretive and often misunderstood mental health condition.

Outline

Most people have heard of OCD, but what exactly is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

An estimated two to three percent of the population suffers from the condition, which goes far beyond the common stereotypes of excessive hand washing or repetitive behaviours.

To penetrate the reality of this mental illness, this film gets to know several who have agreed to come forward and talk about their OCD.

Production & Filming Details

  • Director(s): Adrian McCarthy.
  • Producer(s): Adrian McCarthy, Niamh O’Connor, Zlata Filipovic, and Martha O’Neill..
  • Cinematography: Eleanor Bowman.
  • Editor(s): Brenda Morrissey.
  • Production: Wildfire Films.
  • Release Date: 02 February 2015.
  • Running Time: 53 minutes.
  • Country: Ireland.
  • Language: English.

Postpartum: Linking Poor Body Image & Depressive Symptoms

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Research Paper Title

A qualitative insight into the relationship between postpartum depression and body image.

Background

This study qualitatively explored the experience of depression and body image concerns in women diagnosed with depression in the postpartum period.

Women’s bodies undergo substantial changes during the perinatal period which can impact their body image and mood post-birth.

However, it remains unknown how women diagnosed with depression experience their body image in the postpartum period.

Methods

Seventeen women in their first postpartum year completed qualitative telephone interviews: seven women diagnosed with depression and ten without depression.

Thematic content analysis identified the main themes of the women’s narratives:

  • Expectations and adjustments to motherhood;
  • Mood in response to changing postpartum body;
  • The context of feeling bad about my body; and
  • Body letting me down and relationship to mood.

Results

Differences in the relationship between body image and mood for postpartum women with depression compared to women without depression were revealed.

Other themes seemed to be experienced in the same way by women with and without depression.

Conclusions

Poor body image and depressive symptoms appear linked during postpartum.

An improved understanding of this association may assist postpartum women to manage negative body image post-birthand prevent the exacerbation of negative emotional health in this period.

Reference

Hartley, E., Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M., Skouteris, H. & Hill, B. (2020) A qualitative insight into the relationship between postpartum depression and body image. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology. 1-13. doi: 10.1080/02646838.2019.1710119. [Epub ahead of print].

Linking Attitudes towards Mental Illness & the Media

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Research Paper Title

Turkish newspaper articles mentioning people with mental illness: A retrospective study.

Background

Because a great majority of the public knows about mental disorders primarily through printed or visual media, the attitudes exhibited in mass media might be predictive in stigmatizing individuals with mental disorders.

The aim of this study was to retrospectively assess the articles in Turkish newspapers that mention individuals with mental disorders.

Methods

This study was designed to retrospectively investigate and analyze newspaper content in Turkey; the newspapers’ circulation information was collected by examining the websites of the four newspapers with above 1% of the total circulation.

The News Evaluation Form was used to evaluate a sampling of articles that met the inclusion criteria of having appeared in the lifestyle and agenda pages of newspapers, and of using neutral or negative labelling keywords about psychiatric patients.

Results

Almost all the articles reviewed were negative toward individuals with mental disorders.

Three quarters of the reports were forensic, among which two thirds of the individuals with mental disorders were criminalised, and one third were victims of crime.

In approximately half of the news reports, most images were related to the news and were not protected.

Although not all the articles contain stigmatising elements directed toward people with mental disorders, two thirds of the subjects’ images in the news were found to have stigmatising elements.

Conclusions

Media has an impact on attitudes toward people with mental disorders mostly negatively along with individual experiences and peer interactions.

Reference

Aci, O.S., Ciydem, E., Bilgin, H., Ozaslan, Z. & Tek, S. (2020) Turkish newspaper articles mentioning people with mental illness: A retrospective study. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry. doi: 10.1177/0020764019894609. [Epub ahead of print].

Does Early Maternal Separation Exert a Negative Influence on Student’s Depression & Dysfunctional Attitude?

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Research Paper Title

The impacts of maternal separation experience and its pattern on depression and dysfunctional attitude in middle school students in rural China.

Background

In China, because of the growth of economically driven rural-to-urban migration, there are lots of children in rural area who are separating or have separation experience with their parents.

Until now, few studies focused on solely maternal separation and no research studied whether its pattern will affect children’s later psychological status.

The aim of this study was to determine whether early or late maternal separation affects depression and dysfunctional attitude in middle school students and what is the role of cumulative duration and meeting frequency.

Methods

Maternal separation experience was obtained by using questionnaires. The researchers got early maternal separation group first. Then, late maternal separation and control group were obtained with the same number by matching grade, sex and family socioeconomic status.

All the students in the three groups completed the scales of Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) and Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS).

Results

Both CDI and DAS scores of early separation group are higher than the other two groups.

  • When the researches split the data by sex, only females presented the same results.
  • When cumulative duration is short, there is significant difference in both scores of CDI and DAS among the three groups, which showed the scores of early separation group are higher than the other two groups.
  • When the cumulative duration is long, there is no significant difference among the three groups.
  • When meeting frequency is high, there is no significant difference among the three groups.
  • When it is low, there is significant difference among the three groups, which showed the CDI and DAS scores of early separation group are higher than the other two groups.

Furthermore, the same results are also found in females.

Conclusions

Early maternal separation may exert negative influence on student’s depression and dysfunctional attitude.

The sex, cumulative duration and meeting frequency may also play important roles in the effect.

Reference

Cao, X.J., Huang, Y.X., Zhu, P. & Zhang, Z.G. (2020) The impacts of maternal separation experience and its pattern on depression and dysfunctional attitude in middle school students in rural China. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 66(2), pp.188-197. doi: 10.1177/0020764019895795. Epub 2020 Jan 2.

What is the Intergenerational Transmission of Risk for PTSD Symptoms & the Roles of Maternal and Child Emotion Dysregulation?

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Research Paper Title

Intergenerational transmission of risk for PTSD symptoms in African American children: The roles of maternal and child emotion dysregulation.

Background

Emotion dysregulation is a transdiagnostic risk factor for many mental health disorders and develops in the context of early trauma exposure.

Research suggests inter-generational risk associated with trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such that maternal trauma experiences and related symptoms can negatively impact child outcomes across development.

The goals of the present study were to examine child and mother correlates of child PTSD symptoms and the unique roles of child and maternal emotion dysregulation in understanding child PTSD symptoms.

Methods

Subjects included 105 African American mother-child dyads from an urban hospital serving primarily low-income minority individuals.

Results

Correlational results showed that child trauma exposure, child emotion dysregulation, maternal depressive symptoms, maternal emotion dysregulation, and potential for maternal child abuse all were significantly associated with child PTSD symptoms (ps < 0.05).

Hierarchical linear regression models revealed that child trauma exposure, maternal depression, and maternal abuse potential accounted for 29% of the variance in child PTSD symptoms (p < 0.001).

Both child emotion dysregulation (Rchange² = 0.14, p < .001) and maternal emotion dysregulation (Rchange² = 0.04, p < .05) were significantly associated with child PTSD symptoms independent of other risk factors and potential for maternal abuse was no longer a significant predictor.

Conclusions

These results suggest that maternal emotion dysregulation may be an important factor in influencing their child’s PTSD symptoms above and beyond child-specific variables.

Both maternal and child emotion dysregulation could be valuable treatment targets for improving maternal mental health and parenting behaviours and bolstering child health outcomes, thus reducing inter-generational transmission of risk associated with trauma.

Reference

Powers, A., Stevens, J.S., O’Banion, D., Stenson, A.F., Kaslow, N., Jovanovic, T. & Bradley, B. (2020) Intergenerational transmission of risk for PTSD symptoms in African American children: The roles of maternal and child emotion dysregulation. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy. doi: 10.1037/tra0000543. [Epub ahead of print].

Post-Traumatic Growth & Support: Consider Quality & Quantity

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Research Paper Title

The impact of received social support on posttraumatic growth after disaster: The importance of both support quantity and quality.

Background

Few studies have investigated the relationship between received social support (actual help received) and posttraumatic growth (PTG), and these studies focused only on the quantity of support received.

This study examined the joint implications of both the quantity and quality of post-disaster received social support for PTG.

Methods

Data were collected from Lushan earthquake (China, in 2013) survivors at 7 (n = 199) and 31 (n = 161) months after the earthquake.

The main effects of quantity and quality of received support, and the interaction between support quantity and support quality, were examined using hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for the extent of disaster exposure, post-disaster negative life events, and sociodemographic factors.

Results

Neither quantity nor quality of received social support exerted significant main effects on PTG.

However, the influence of the amount of received social support on PTG was moderated by the quality of received social support.

Among survivors who appraised the post-disaster social support they received as higher in quality, greater amounts of received support were associated with more subsequent PTG.

Among those survivors who appraised the post-disaster social support they received as lower in quality, greater quantity of received support was associated with lower levels of reported PTG.

Conclusions

This study calls attention to the importance of enhancing the quality of help provided to disaster survivors because simply “more” support is not necessarily better.

Reference

Shang, F., Kaniasty, K., Cowlishaw, S., Wade, D., Ma, H. & Forbes, D. (2020) The impact of received social support on posttraumatic growth after disaster: The importance of both support quantity and quality. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. doi: 10.1037/tra0000541. [Epub ahead of print].

Could an Elevated Spindle Oscillatory Frequency in PTSD Indicate a Deficient Sensory-gating Mechanism is Responsible For Preserving Sleep Continuity?

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Research Paper Title

Increased Oscillatory Frequency of Sleep Spindles in Combat-Exposed Veteran Men with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Background

Sleep disturbances are core symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but reliable sleep markers of PTSD have yet to be identified.

Sleep spindles are important brain waves associated with sleep protection and sleep-dependent memory consolidation.

The present study tested whether sleep spindles are altered in individuals with PTSD and whether the findings are reproducible across nights and sub-samples of the study.

Methods

Seventy-eight combat-exposed veteran men with (n = 31) and without (n = 47) PTSD completed two consecutive nights of high-density EEG recordings in a laboratory.

The researchers identified slow (10-13 Hz) and fast (13-16 Hz) sleep spindles during N2 and N3 sleep stages and performed topographical analyses of spindle parameters (amplitude, duration, oscillatory frequency, and density) on both nights.

To assess reproducibility, they used the first 47 consecutive participants (18 with PTSD) for initial discovery and the remaining 31 participants (13 with PTSD) for replication assessment.

Results

In the discovery analysis, compared to non-PTSD participants, PTSD participants exhibited 1) higher slow-spindle oscillatory frequency over the antero-frontal regions on both nights and 2) higher fast-spindle oscillatory frequency over the centro-parietal regions on the second night.

The first finding was preserved in the replication analysis.

The researchers found no significant group differences in the amplitude, duration, or density of slow or fast spindles.

Conclusions

The elevated spindle oscillatory frequency in PTSD may indicate a deficient sensory-gating mechanism responsible for preserving sleep continuity.

The findings, if independently validated, may assist in the development of sleep-focused PTSD diagnostics and interventions.

Reference

Wang, C., Laxminarayan, S., Ramakrishnan, S., Dovzhenok, A., Cashmere, J.D., Germain, A. & Reifman, J. (2020) Increased Oscillatory Frequency of Sleep Spindles in Combat-Exposed Veteran Men with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sleep. pii: zsaa064. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa064. [Epub ahead of print].