preview

What Are Eating Disorder ( Ed ) Is A Disorder Of The And Affect Regulation?

Decent Essays

Eating disorder (ED) is a disorder of self- and affect-regulation (Fonagy et al., 2002; Skårderud, 2007a, 2007b; Skårderud & Fonagy, 2012). A growing body of theoretical and empirical research suggests that ED is related to a compromised ability to mentalize (Gillberg et al., 2010; Robinson et al., 2014; Skårderud & Fonagy, 2012). Pre-reflective modes of thinking are prevalent among ED patients, influencing their behaviour and also clinical presentation (Fonagy et al., 2002; Skårderud & Fonagy, 2012). Mentalizing model could provide dynamic and developmental perspectives for understanding the pathology. However, research in this area is scarce, especially the empirical studies which used the RFS as the assessment tool.

2.3.2.1 Mentalizing Impairment in ED
Few empirical ED studies included the RFS in the research design. Among the existing RFS studies on ED, some reported low levels of RF for ED patients. For example, Ward et al. (2001) found a score of 2.4 for the Anorexia Nervosa inpatients in their study. This result replicated Fonagy and colleagues ' (1996) finding with a score of 2.8 for fourteen eating disorder patients. According to the RFS manual, an RF score below 3 represents poor mentalizing ability. Therefore, severe mentalizing impairments were evidenced among these ED samples.

Compared to Anorexia Nervosa inpatients, Pedersen and colleagues (2012) in their Bulimia Nervosa outpatient sample (BN; n =70), found a higher RF mean score of 4.11 which was not

Get Access