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Updated: Aug 26, 2026

Assessing Activity-based Anorexia in Mice
Published on: May 14, 2018
Emotional functioning in anorexia nervosa patients: adolescents compared to adults
Marjo J S Zonnevylle-Bender1, Stephanie H M van Goozen, Peggy T Cohen-Kettenis
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands. M.Zonnevylle-Bender@psych.azu.nl
Abstract:
Studies concerning eating disorder patients have revealed the presence of alexithymia, depressive, and anxiety disorders. We compared these aspects of emotional functioning in two groups of anorexia nervosa (AN) patients: adolescents vs. adults. Forty-eight adolescent anorexia nervosa patients (ADO) and 23 adult anorexia nervosa patients (ADU) completed a battery of tasks and questionnaires to measure these different aspects of emotional functioning and to control for differences of a more general cognitive nature. Both groups showed marked resemblance; both had high alexithymia scores and performed worse on emotional tasks measuring aspects of alexithymia. Furthermore, both groups showed high percentages of depressive and anxiety disorders, with the ADU group scoring only higher on specific and social phobia than the ADO group. Adult and adolescent AN patient groups do not differ substantially with respect to emotional functioning.
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