The Interaction Between Mentalizing, Empathy and Symptoms in People with Eating Disorders: A Network Analysis Integratin
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The Interaction Between Mentalizing, Empathy and Symptoms in People with Eating Disorders: A Network Analysis Integrating Experimentally Induced and Self‑report Measures Alessio Maria Monteleone1 · Elisa Corsi2,3 · Giammarco Cascino4 · Valeria Ruzzi1 · Valdo Ricca3 · Rebecca Ashworth5 · Geoff Bird5,6 · Valentina Cardi2
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Background The role of mentalizing and empathy in the socio-emotional processing deficits of Eating Disorder (ED) patients has been under investigated. We aimed to assess these psychological processes and their interplay with ED symptoms by means of the network analysis approach. Methods Seventy-seven women with EDs completed self-report questionnaires assessing ED, anxious and depressive symptoms, and underwent two computerized tasks; the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC), assessing emotional and non-emotional mental state inferences, and the Empathic Accuracy Task-Revised (EAT-R), measuring accuracy in identifying others’ emotions and the extent to which those emotions are shared. A partial correlation network and bridge function analyses were computed. Results In the partial correlation network inference of cognitive mental states and shape concern were the nodes with the highest strength centrality. Inference of emotional mental states was the node with the highest bridge strength in the cluster of social cognition functions. Empathic and mentalizing abilities were directly connected with each other and with ED symptoms. Conclusions This is the first network analysis study which integrates self-reported symptoms and objective socio-cognitive performance in people with EDs. Results highlight the importance of mentalizing abilities in that they contribute to maintenance of ED psychopathology and to empathic ability. Keywords Network analysis · Eating disorders · Mentalization · Empathy · Social cognition · Experimental psychopathology
Introduction Among the numerous factors which contribute to Eating Disorder (ED) development and maintenance, social difficulties seem to play a crucial role. For example, it has been demonstrated that despite some differences between people Alessio Maria Monteleone and Elisa Corsi should be considered joint first author. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10126-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Alessio Maria Monteleone [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and those with Bulimia Nervosa (BN), interpersonal sensitivity represents an important maintaining factor for ED psychopathology (Arcelus et al. 2013). A meta-analysis by Caglar-Nazali et al. (2014) confirmed that people with EDs exhibit a number of social problems, which may stem from alexithymia (an inability to identify and describe one’s own emotions), negative selfevaluations, impa
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