Seidel Maria, Wronski Marie-Louis, Bernardoni Fabio, Hennig Julius, Poller Nico, Locke Annekatrin, Stender Evelina, Heckel Susanne, Roessner Veit, Ehrlich Stefan
Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstr 74 01309, Dresden, Germany.
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital Dresden, Fetscherstr 74 01309, Dresden, Germany.
Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2024 Oct-Dec;24(4):100522. doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2024.100522. Epub 2024 Nov 16.
Patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) are characterized by rigid behavioral patterns and habit-like routines, especially regarding food intake. It has been hypothesized that habits contribute to the maintenance of AN-related symptoms. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the role of disorder-specific and nonspecific habits during weight-restoration treatment.
In this longitudinal study, we examined the frequency of habits using ecological momentary assessment in 44 adolescent patients with AN who were undergoing inpatient nutritional rehabilitation. All patients had two data collection periods: baseline at admission, and follow-up shortly before discharge from treatment. An age-matched healthy control group was included to assess normalization at follow-up.
Analyses revealed a significant decrease in food-intake and hygiene-related habit frequency from baseline to follow-up. Furthermore, at follow-up habit frequency of both categories no longer differed between AN and controls. Moreover, the degree of reduction of food intake habits was predictive of weight gain at follow-up.
These findings may suggest that habitual behaviors are state factors, mainly present during the acute phase of the disorder, which advances our understanding of the habit hypothesis in AN. Changing such behaviors may be important for weight restoration, highlighting the potential value of interventions targeting habits.
神经性厌食症（AN）患者具有刻板的行为模式和类似习惯的日常行为，尤其是在食物摄入方面。据推测，习惯有助于维持与AN相关的症状。因此，了解特定疾病和非特定习惯在体重恢复治疗中的作用至关重要。
在这项纵向研究中，我们使用生态瞬时评估法，对44名正在接受住院营养康复治疗的青少年AN患者的习惯频率进行了检查。所有患者有两个数据收集期：入院时的基线期，以及治疗即将出院前的随访期。纳入了一个年龄匹配的健康对照组，以评估随访时的恢复正常情况。
分析显示，从基线期到随访期，食物摄入和卫生相关习惯的频率显著下降。此外，在随访时，这两类习惯的频率在AN患者和对照组之间不再有差异。而且，食物摄入习惯的减少程度可预测随访时的体重增加。
这些发现可能表明，习惯性行为是状态因素，主要出现在疾病的急性期，这推进了我们对AN中习惯假说的理解。改变这些行为可能对体重恢复很重要，突出了针对习惯的干预措施的潜在价值。
