Using Network Theory for Psychoeducation in Eating Disorders

Background: Negative illness representations such as self-blame impede treatment-seeking behavior and therapy motivation in individuals with eating disorders (EDs). However, only one study so far has investigated how different explanatory models influence these beliefs in EDs. We aimed to expand these findings by introducing an explanatory model based on network theory (NT). Methods: We presented three explanatory models to a diverse web-recruited sample (n = 290, 141 females, 149 males) with clinically elevated ED symptomatology. Participants either watched a video with a biological-genetic (BG), cognitive-behavioral (CB) or an NT explanatory model and were asked about illness representations before and after watching the video. Results: The BG group showed significantly greater reductions in self-blame but a significant decrease in personal control and less optimistic expectation regarding timeline compared to the CB and NT groups. There were no group differences regarding the perception of the clinician, comprehensibility of the explanatory model and credibility of a CBT intervention. Conclusions: Given the increasing popularity of biological-genetic explanatory models of EDs, it is important to note the disadvantages we found to be associated with these models. Our findings indicate that explanatory models emphasizing cognitive-behavioral (CB) principles and/or network theoretical (NT) underpinnings of EDs may serve to promote optimism and greater perceptions of personal agency in affected populations. This trial's registration number is 316

Momentary associations between emotional responses to social media and affect: Consistency across global affect and specific emotional states

Social media (SM) is widely used among adolescents, making the relationship between SM and affect in this population important to understand. However, previous research has largely used methods that do not capture the dynamic and variable nature of SM or measure the consistency of effects across global affect and specific emotions. The current study examined the momentary relationship between positive and negative SM experiences and global positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), as well as specific affective states of PA and NA. Adolescents (N = 62; 14-17 years old) were recruited from SM platforms to participate in an eight-week ecological momentary assessment study. Participants reported three times per day on PA and NA and positive and negative SM experiences. Random intercept and random slope models were used to examine within-person associations between momentary positive and negative SM experiences and affect after controlling for between-person differences. At prompts when participants reported greater-than-usual positive SM experiences, they reported higher global PA and lower global NA. At prompts when participants reported greater than their average negative SM experiences, they endorsed lower global PA and higher global NA. These results were consistent across same-valence specific affective states. The current study highlights proximal associations between SM experiences and affect, highlighting potential avenues of short-term risk and protection

Positive and Negative Social Media Experiences and Proximal Risk for Suicidal Ideation in Adolescents

Background: Social media (SM) has received considerable attention as a potential risk factor for adolescent suicide. Few empirical studies, however, have examined adolescents’ daily negative and positive experiences on SM and its proximal impacts on suicidal ideation (SI), particularly using intensive monitoring designs. Method: Adolescents (N= 60; 14-17 years; 49% girls; 62% LGBTQ+) recruited using SM across the United States and participated in an 8-week intensive monitoring protocol. Ecological momentary assessment (3 brief surveys per day) asked about negative and positive SM experiences and SI (passive and active). Multilevel modeling was used to evaluate the within-person relationships between daily SM experiences (e.g., individual fluctuations compared to a person’s average) and SI, controlling for average levels of SM experiences, SM use screen time, and lifetime SI. Results: Significant within-person effects of negative and positive SM experiences were associated with days when adolescents had SI. Specifically, on days when teens endorsed more frequent negative SM experiences than usual, they were more likely to report SI. However, more positive SM experiences than usual were associated with a lower likelihood of having SI. There were no significant effects of SM use (“screen time”) on SI or on the reverse associations of SI on next-day SM experiences. Conclusions: Results indicate that SM experiences may be dynamic and modifiable risk and protective factors for SI in adolescents, whereas there is no effect of SM screen time on SI. Our results highlight that targeting negative SM experiences and augmenting the positive experiences on SM may be critical targets to improve teens’ mental health and prevent suicide, rather than focusing on limiting SM screen time

A new era of teen social media use: Adolescents’ daily social media use and mood during the COVID-19 lockdown period

Adolescents’ relationship to social media use shifted significantly during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, less is known about how adolescents’ social media use behaviors and mood were associated during this time. This study examined objective SM use, positive and negative affect during SM use, and general negative mood among adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Participants included 19 adolescents (Mean age = 15.8; 37% female). Bayesian multilevel models examined whether positive and negative affect while using SM were associated with within-person changes in 1) daily duration of SM use, 2) frequency of checking SM, and 3) whether these SM metrics were associated with changes in negative mood at the same-day and next-day levels. Checking SM more frequently than usual was uniquely associated with within-person increases in adolescents’ positive mood when using SM (p < .05), but not negative mood when using SM the next day. At the same-day level, stronger positive or negative mood during SM use were associated with more SM ‘screen time’ (duration) and checking. However, neither ‘screen time’ nor checking were associated with general negative mood on the same-day or next-day level. These findings support the notion that SM is rewarding by highlighting that higher-than-usual SM checking is associated with within-person increases in next-day positive mood during use. These findings also add to growing evidence that social media may not be directly tied to adolescents’ general mood state

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder differs from anorexia nervosa in delay discounting

Abstract Background Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and anorexia nervosa (AN) are the two primary restrictive eating disorders; however, they are driven by differing motives for inadequate dietary intake. Despite overlap in restrictive eating behaviors and subsequent malnutrition, it remains unknown if ARFID and AN also share commonalities in their cognitive profiles, with cognitive alterations being a key identifier of AN. Discounting the present value of future outcomes with increasing delay to their expected receipt represents a core cognitive process guiding human decision-making. A hallmark cognitive characteristic of individuals with AN (vs. healthy controls [HC]) is reduced discounting of future outcomes, resulting in reduced impulsivity and higher likelihood of favoring delayed gratification. Whether individuals with ARFID display a similar reduction in delay discounting as those with AN (vs. an opposing bias towards increased delay discounting or no bias) is important in informing transdiagnostic versus disorder-specific cognitive characteristics and optimizing future intervention strategies. Method To address this research question, 104 participants (ARFID: n = 57, AN: n = 28, HC: n = 19) completed a computerized Delay Discounting Task. Groups were compared by their delay discounting parameter (ln)k. Results Individuals with ARFID displayed a larger delay discounting parameter than those with AN, indicating steeper delay discounting (M ± SD = −6.10 ± 2.00 vs. −7.26 ± 1.73, p = 0.026 [age-adjusted], Hedges’ g = 0.59), with no difference from HC (p = 0.514, Hedges’ g = −0.35). Conclusion Our findings provide a first indication of distinct cognitive profiles among the two primary restrictive eating disorders. The present results, together with future research spanning additional cognitive domains and including larger and more diverse samples of individuals with ARFID (vs. AN), will contribute to identifying maintenance mechanisms that are unique to each disorder as well as contribute to the optimization and tailoring of treatment strategies across the spectrum of restrictive eating disorders

Neural activation of regions involved in food reward and cognitive control in young females with anorexia nervosa and atypical anorexia nervosa versus healthy controls

Abstract Anorexia nervosa (AN) and atypical AN (AtypAN) are complex neurobiological illnesses that typically onset in adolescence with an often treatment-refractory and chronic illness trajectory. Aberrant eating behaviors in this population have been linked to abnormalities in food reward and cognitive control, but prior studies have not examined respective contributions of clinical characteristics and metabolic state. Research is needed to identify specific disruptions and inform novel intervention targets to improve outcomes. Fifty-nine females with AN (n = 34) or AtypAN (n = 25), ages 10–22 years, all ≤90% expected body weight, and 34 age-matched healthy controls (HC) completed a well-established neuroimaging food cue paradigm fasting and after a standardized meal, and we used ANCOVA models to investigate main and interaction effects of Group and Appetitive State on blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activation for the contrast of exposure to high-calorie food images minus objects. We found main effects of Group with greater BOLD activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), hippocampus, caudate, and putamen for AN/AtypAN versus HC groups, and in the three-group model including AN, AtypAN, and HC (sub-)groups, where differences were primarily driven by greater activation in the AtypAN subgroup versus HC group. We found a main effect of Appetitive State with increased premeal BOLD activation in the hypothalamus, amygdala, nucleus accumbens, and caudate for models that included AN/AtypAN and HC groups, and in BOLD activation in the nucleus accumbens for the model that included AN, AtypAN, and HC (sub-)groups. There were no interaction effects of Group with Appetitive State for any of the models. Our findings demonstrate robust feeding-state independent group effects reflecting greater neural activation of specific regions typically associated with reward and cognitive control processing across AN and AtypAN relative to healthy individuals in this food cue paradigm. Differential activation of specific brain regions in response to the passive viewing of high-calorie food images may underlie restrictive eating behavior in this clinical population

Protein Design: Toward Functional Metalloenzymes

The scope of this Review is to discuss the construction of metal sites in designed protein scaffolds. We categorize the effort of designing proteins into redesign, which is to rationally engineer desired functionality into an existing protein scaffold,(1-9) and de novo design, which is to build a peptidic or protein system that is not directly related to any sequence found in nature yet folds into a predicted structure and/or carries out desired reactions.(10-12) We will analyze and interpret the significance of designed protein systems from a coordination chemistry and biochemistry perspective, with an emphasis on those containing constructed metal sites as mimics for metalloenzymes