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Social Cognition in Bulimia Nervosa: A Systematic Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2011

H. DeJong*
Affiliation:
King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Section of Eating Disorders, PO 59, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AFLondon, United Kingdom
F. Van den Eynde
Affiliation:
King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Section of Eating Disorders, PO 59, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AFLondon, United Kingdom
H. Broadbent
Affiliation:
King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Section of Eating Disorders, PO 59, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AFLondon, United Kingdom
M.D. Kenyon
Affiliation:
King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Section of Eating Disorders, PO 59, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AFLondon, United Kingdom
A. Lavender
Affiliation:
King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Section of Eating Disorders, PO 59, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AFLondon, United Kingdom
H. Startup
Affiliation:
King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Section of Eating Disorders, PO 59, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AFLondon, United Kingdom
U. Schmidt
Affiliation:
King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Section of Eating Disorders, PO 59, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AFLondon, United Kingdom
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 20 7848 5608; fax: +44 20 7848 0182. E-mail address: hannah.dejong@kcl.ac.uk (H. DeJong).
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Abstract

Objective

Clinical accounts and previous evidence suggest that socio-emotional impairments may be present in people with bulimia nervosa (BN). The aim of this paper was to systematically review studies of social cognition, and to evaluate whether social cognitive deficits exist in BN.

Method

Keywords were identified using an existing model of social cognition (Green et al., 2007) [16], and used to search for relevant papers in three online databases. Records were then screened according to a priori inclusion/exclusion criteria.

Results

Five papers reporting seven social cognition tasks were identified as pertinent to the review. All involved either theory of mind ability or emotional processing skills. Participants with BN had impaired performance on the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale and showed greater attentional bias than controls on an emotional Stroop task. There were no overall group differences for any other tasks, although there were small differences for some specific test items.

Conclusions

Basic social cognition does not appear to be impaired in people with BN. Future research should make use of more complex, ecologically valid measures, and consider the relationship between task performance and everyday social functioning.

Type
Review
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2013

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