Episodic Future Thinking in Eating Disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Episodic future-thinking and related cognitive processes in people with Eating Disorders
IRAS ID
289878
Contact name
Reza Razavi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
There is growing research interest to examine the basic mechanism underlying psychiatric disorders. There is evidence to suggest that individuals with eating disorders have some abnormalities in memory and learning, as well as the ability to think about the future. However, this evidence is underdeveloped and it is unclear whether these alterations resolve after recovery, and which aspects of the illness they are related to. In depression, there is robust evidence for difficulties in future-thinking as well as remembering specific details about the past. Similarly, these deficits are related to problems with cognitive flexibility. There are similarities between the treatment-resistant form of depression and treatment-resistant eating disorders, as well as a high comorbidity between the two. This warrants research to investigate whether similar abnormalities exist in eating disorders, with a particular focus on restrictive eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa.
In this project, we will recruit 120 participants either with current anorexia nervosa, past anorexia nervosa, a current bulimic-type eating disorder or with no history of psychiatric illness. Patients will be recruited from the research database held at King’s College London and from eating disorder units at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation. An episodic future-thinking version of the autobiographical memory task, a task assessing a person’s memory for events, will be administered. Participants will also complete a series of questionnaires assessing their psychological health and demographics, as well as a series of neuropsychological tasks that assess related cognitive processes. These tasks and questionnaires will be administered across two online sessions, taking a total of approximately 2.5 hours. The data collected from this study will inform future studies, theory and potential novel treatments.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/LO/0338
Date of REC Opinion
5 May 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion