ArticleFrontiers in psychology2019
Anorexia Nervosa and a Lost Emotional Self: A Psychological Formulation of the Development, Maintenance, and Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Phonological working memory is adversely affected in adults with anorexia nervosa: a systematic literature review.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2022Pooled it
- 'In an otherwise limitless world, I was sure of my limit.'Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- The Role of Emotion Regulation in Eating Disorders: A Network Meta-Analysis Approach.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- COVID-19 Pandemic and Eating Disorders: What Can We Learn About Psychopathology and Treatment? A Systematic Review.Current psychiatry reports · 2021Pooled it
- Acute tryptophan depletion balances altered resting-state functional connectivity of the salience network in female patients recovered from anorexia nervosa.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPNTrial
- Examining Facets of Body Image Disturbance Across Anorexia Nervosa Illness and Recovery Stages.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026Article
- Clinical Trajectories Associated with Pharmacological Treatment Patterns in Female Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa: A 12-Month Retrospective Study in Italian Real-World Clinical Practice.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Exploring illness and recovery in eating disorders: a qualitative study of patients' group therapies experiences.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Interpersonal wounds and identity among people with anorexia nervosa: a qualitative content analysis of autobiographical memories elicited by disgust-related cues.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Childhood trauma, emotions, and the eating disorder voice.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Anorexia nervosa: 150 years of critical theory.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Review
- Heterogeneity in sexual functioning among women with eating disorders: exploring the role of body trusting and need for approval using mixture regression modeling.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- The Hidden Spectrum Within Eating Disorders: Clustering Neurodivergent Traits and Sensory Sensitivity.The International journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Emotional intelligence and loneliness in eating disorders: a cluster-analytic study across diagnostic categories.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Effects of Childhood Emotional Abuse on Treatment Outcome in Adolescent Inpatients With Anorexia Nervosa.The International journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Artificial intelligence-assisted visual elicitation in anorexia nervosa : Qualitative case studies.Neuropsychiatrie : Klinik, Diagnostik, Therapie und Rehabilitation : Organ der Gesellschaft Osterreichischer Nervenarzte und Psychiater · 2025Article
- Social rejection sensitivity and its role in anorexia nervosa: a systematic review of experimental literature.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Review
- Exploring the role of maternal-adult-child relationship, early maladaptive schemas, and difficulties in emotion regulation in symptoms of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder among Iranian students.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2025Article
- Impairments in personality functioning in adolescents with anorexia nervosa.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2025Article
- Processes of change in family therapies for anorexia nervosa: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative data.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In this paper, we argue that Anorexia Nervosa (AN) can be explained as arising from a 'lost sense of emotional self.' We begin by briefly reviewing evidence accumulated to date supporting the consensus that a complex range of genetic, biological, psychological, and socio-environmental risk and maintenance factors contribute to the development and maintenance of AN. We consider how current interventions seek to tackle these factors in psychotherapy and potential limitations. We then propose our theory that many risk and maintenance factors may be unified by an underpinning explanation of emotional processing difficulties leading to a lost sense of 'emotional self.' Further, we discuss how, once established, AN becomes 'self-perpetuating' and the 'lost sense of emotional self' relentlessly deepens. We outline these arguments in detail, drawing on empirical and neuroscientific data, before discussing the implications of this model for understanding AN and informing clinical intervention. We argue that experiential models of therapy (e.g., emotion-focused therapy; schema therapy) be employed to achieve emergence and integration of an 'emotional self' which can be flexibly and adaptively used to direct an individual's needs and relationships. Furthermore, we assert that this should be a primary goal of therapy for adults with established AN.
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