Attachment Trauma Is Associated with White Matter Fiber Microstructural Alterations in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa before and after Exposure to Psychotherapeutic and Nutritional Treatment

In the present study, we explore the role of attachment for microstructural white matter (WM) changes in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) before and after exposure to short-term and nutritional treatment. The case sample consisted of 22 female adolescent inpatients with AN (mean age: 15.2 ± 1....

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Veröffentlicht in:Brain sciences Jg. 13; H. 5; S. 798
Hauptverfasser: Gander, Manuela, Lenhart, Lukas, Steiger, Ruth, Buchheim, Anna, Mangesius, Stephanie, Birkl, Christoph, Haid-Stecher, Nina, Fuchs, Martin, Libal, Anna, Dabkowska-Mika, Agnieszka, Gizewski, Elke Ruth, Sevecke, Kathrin
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Switzerland MDPI AG 14.05.2023
MDPI
Schlagworte:
adolescence
Adolescents
Anisotropy
Anorexia
Anorexia nervosa
Attachment
Brain research
Caregivers
Cingulum
Corpus callosum
Diet therapy
Eating disorders
Emotional regulation
Fornix
fractional anisotropy
Mental disorders
Patients
Psychotherapy
Substantia alba
Teenage girls
Thalamus
Trauma
white matter
Austria
Germany
adolescence
white matter
fractional anisotropy
attachment
anorexia nervosa
ISSN:2076-3425, 2076-3425
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Zusammenfassung:In the present study, we explore the role of attachment for microstructural white matter (WM) changes in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) before and after exposure to short-term and nutritional treatment. The case sample consisted of 22 female adolescent inpatients with AN (mean age: 15.2 ± 1.2 years) and the control sample were 18 gender-matched healthy adolescents (mean age: 16.8 ± 0.9 years). We performed a 3T MRI in the patient group during the acute state of AN and after weight restoration (duration: 2.6 ± 1 months) and compared the data to a healthy control group. To classify attachment patterns, we used the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System. In the patient sample, over 50% were classified with an attachment trauma/unresolved attachment status. Prior to treatment exposure, fractional anisotropy (FA) reductions and concordant mean diffusivity (MD) increases were evident in the fornix, the corpus callosum and WM regions of the thalamus, which normalized in the corpus callosum and the fornix post-therapy in the total patient sample (p < 0.002). In the acute state, patients with an attachment trauma demonstrated significant FA decreases compared to healthy controls, but no MD increases, in the corpus callosum and cingulum bilaterally, which remained decreased after therapy. Attachment patterns seem to be associated with region-specific changes of WM alterations in AN.
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These authors contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:2076-3425
2076-3425
DOI:10.3390/brainsci13050798