Abstract
BackgroundThe current study aimed to evaluate group Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) inpatients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN). We aimed to examine the treatment response of group CRT in AN patients with high or low levels of autistic traits.MethodsThirty-five in patients with an AN diagnosis received group CRT intervention for 6 sessions in a national eating disorder unit. All participants completed self-report questionnaires on thinking styles and motivation before and after the intervention.ResultsPatients with low autistic traits had statistically significant medium size effect improvements in self-reported thinking style scales as well as confidence (ability) to change. Patients with high autistic traits showed no statistically significant improvements in any outcome measure.ConclusionsThe brief group format CRT intervention improves self-reported cognitive and motivational aspects in people with AN without autistic traits. For patients with higher autistic traits brief group CRT does not improve self-reported cognitive style or motivation. This finding suggests that brief group format CRT might not be the best suited format for individuals with elevated autistic traits and individual or more tailored CRT should be explored.
Highlights
The current study aimed to evaluate group Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) inpatients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN)
Recent evidence on the cognitive features of anorexia nervosa (AN) suggests problems in cognitive flexibility and central coherence [for large database and systematic reviews see [9, 21, 22]], Poor cognitive flexibility and weak central coherence are the most commonly reported cognitive characteristics for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) [systematic review see [27]]
In this study we aimed to examine the effects of CRT in an adult inpatient programme for AN patients with and without ASD traits
Summary
The current study aimed to evaluate group Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) inpatients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Recent evidence on the cognitive features of anorexia nervosa (AN) suggests problems in cognitive flexibility (ability to shift between strategies and adapt to changes in the environment) and central coherence (attention bias to detail vs bigger picture) [for large database and systematic reviews see [9, 21, 22]], Poor cognitive flexibility and weak central coherence are the most commonly reported cognitive characteristics for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) [systematic review see [27]]. The Individual CRT format recently gained more evidence from randomised treatment trials consistently showing cognitive improvements in patients receiving CRT as well as broader aspects of recovery [24, 25]. CRT in group format is less studied and no randomised treatment studies are available at present (for more details see Table 1)
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