Journal article
Using the validated reflective functioning questionnaire to investigate mentalizing in individuals presenting with eating disorders with and without self-harm
- Abstract:
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Background: The present study builds on previous research which explored the relationship between mentalizing and eating disorders (ED) in a subgroup of patients with comorbid self-harm (SH). Whereas previous literature had linked this comorbidity to impulse-control difficulties, more recent advances have suggested that a lack of a mentalizing stance might be responsible for a more treatment-resistant and severe symptomatology in this subgroup of clients.
Methods: A cross-sectional, quasi-experimental, questionnaire-based, between-groups design was employed and a measure of mentalizing was compared in individuals presenting with ED only, individuals presenting with ED and concurrent SH and a control group.
Results: Individuals with ED with concurrent SH reported significantly more mentalizing ability impairment than individuals without concurrent SH. In addition, both groups differed significantly from the control group. Opposite scoring patterns were identified in hypo- and hypermentalizing with the comorbid group reporting the lowest scores in hypermentalizing and the highest scores in hypomentalizing.
Conclusions: The current findings confirm that individuals with concurrent ED and SH report more severe impairments in mentalizing ability. Such impairments entail difficulties in symbolic capacity and abstract thinking and a concretisation of inner life, exemplified by a rigid, often inflexible focus on the physical world. The clinical implications that a lack of a mentalizing stance can have on individuals’ ability to engage with the therapeutic process and to initiate change are reflected upon.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 326.8KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.7717/peerj.5756
Authors
- Publisher:
- PeerJ
- Journal:
- PeerJ More from this journal
- Volume:
- 6
- Article number:
- e5756
- Publication date:
- 2018-10-29
- Acceptance date:
- 2018-09-14
- DOI:
- ISSN:
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2167-8359
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2355216
- UUID:
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uuid_3f5a3ba8-2bb8-4e7c-9c67-41596a3914ae
- Local pid:
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pubs:2355216
- Source identifiers:
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W2899222200
- Deposit date:
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2025-12-30
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Cucchi et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2018
- Rights statement:
- © 2018 Cucchi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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