Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) is the term for a proposed new eating disorder, used to describe a pathological obsession with healthy or ‘clean’ eating. For individuals with ON, the obsession with eating ‘healthy’ foods, and the elimination of foods considered ‘unhealthy’ or ‘impure’, results in impairment to social, physical, occupational and/or other areas of functioning. Whilst there is still debate as to whether ON describes a distinct eating disorder, and there is no consensus around diagnostic criteria as yet, ON is an emerging topic for research, with more cases coming to light both clinically, and in the media. Although some quantitative research has been carried out in ON, particularly focusing on the measurement and prevalence rates of this proposed disorder, no qualitative studies have been published to date to explore individuals’ personal experiences of ON. Thus, for this project, 40 pre-existing blog entries describing first-person experiences of ON from fifteen women bloggers were analysed using thematic analysis. Five key themes were identified: 1) confusion around diagnosis, 2) initial motivations for a healthier lifestyle, 3) fuelling the problem- social influences, 4) when healthy becomes unhealthy ..., and 5) avoidance, isolation and compensation. The clinical implications of these findings were explored, particularly focusing on the social context of ON, diagnostic crossover between ON and other eating disorders, and the role of fear, perfectionism and perceived control. Whilst the debate around the diagnosis of ON continues, these bloggers’ accounts suggest that ON is experienced as a legitimate and debilitating disorder, worthy of clinical and research investigation in its own right.

Studies indicate an attentional bias towards food in binge-eating disorder (BED), however, more evidence on attentional engagement and disengagement and processing of multiple attention-competing stimuli is needed. This study aimed to examine visual attention to food and non-food stimuli in BED. In n = 23 participants with full-syndrome and subsyndromal BED and n = 23 individually matched healthy controls, eye-tracking was used to assess attention to food and non-food stimuli during a free exploration paradigm and a visual search task. In the free exploration paradigm, groups did not differ in initial fixation position. While both groups fixated non-food stimuli significantly longer than food stimuli, the BED group allocated significantly more attention towards food than controls. In the visual search task, groups did not differ in detection times. However, a significant detection bias for food was found in full-syndrome BED, but not in controls. An increased initial attention towards food was related to greater BED symptomatology and lower body mass index (BMI) only in full-syndrome BED, while greater maintained attention to food was associated with lower BMI in controls. The results suggest food-biased visual attentional processing in adults with BED. Further studies should clarify the implications of attentional processes for the etiology and maintenance of BED.

Restrictive eating behaviors occur across ages, but little is known about symptoms of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), especially in adults. This study sought to examine the prevalence of symptoms of ARFID in the adult population, providing a psychometric evaluation of the Eating Disorders in Youth-Questionnaire (EDY-Q) and population norms.

Rapid response is considered the most well-established outcome predictor across treatments of binge-eating disorder (BED), including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). This study sought to identify latent trajectories of early change in CBT and compare them to common rapid response classifications. In a multicenter randomized trial, 86 adults with BED (DSM-IV) or subsyndromal BED provided weekly self-reports of binge eating over the first 4 weeks of CBT, which were analyzed to predict binge eating, depression, and body mass index at posttreatment, 6-, and 18-month follow-up. Using latent growth mixture modeling, three patterns of early change—including moderate and low decreasing—as well as low stable binge eating were identified, which significantly predicted binge-eating remission at 6-month follow-up. Other classifications of rapid response based on Receiver Operating Characteristics curve analyses or on the literature (≥ 10% reduction in binge eating at week 1, ≥ 70% reduction in binge eating at week 4) only predicted posttreatment remission or overall depression, respectively. Latent change trajectories, but not other rapid response classifications, predicted binge-eating frequency over time. A fine-grained analysis of change over the first 4 weeks of CBT for BED revealed different trajectories of early change in binge eating that led to an improved prediction of binge-eating outcome, compared to that of common rapid response classifications. Thorough monitoring of early change trajectories during treatment may have clinical utility.

The diploma thesis is focused on orthorexia nervosa in connection with OCD. Theoretical part contains introduction, diagnostic criteria and methods of measuring. Increasing attention is given to risk groups and factors, which can affect the development of both disorders. Moreover, treatment options and comparison with other mental disorders are presented. The last part of theoretical part is focused on athletes in fitness centers, which are research subjects in the practical part of the thesis. The main goal of practical part is to find out connection between orthorexia nervosa and OCD in selected group of respondents (N=203). Main research survey has quantitative design. The ORTO-15 and Obsessive - Compulsive Inventory (OCI) surveys are used. Statistical analysis shows statistically significant correlation between orthorexia symptoms and obsessive - compulsive disorder symptoms. There is not any significant correlation between orthorexia and training frequency. However, there is statistically significant correlation between orthorexia symptoms and training frequency. The results also show that the occurrence of orthorexia is not sex-linked. Interviews with some responders have been added to research survey (N = 6). The gathered data were processed open coding and presented card unloading...

The diploma thesis is focused on orthorexia nervosa in connection with OCD. Theoretical part contains introduction, diagnostic criteria and methods of measuring. Increasing attention is given to risk groups and factors, which can affect the development of both disorders. Moreover, treatment options and comparison with other mental disorders are presented. The last part of theoretical part is focused on athletes in fitness centers, which are research subjects in the practical part of the thesis. The main goal of practical part is to find out connection between orthorexia nervosa and OCD in selected group of respondents (N=203). Main research survey has quantitative design. The ORTO-15 and Obsessive - Compulsive Inventory (OCI) surveys are used. Statistical analysis shows statistically significant correlation between orthorexia symptoms and obsessive - compulsive disorder symptoms. There is not any significant correlation between orthorexia and training frequency. However, there is statistically significant correlation between orthorexia symptoms and training frequency. The results also show that the occurrence of orthorexia is not sex-linked. Interviews with some responders have been added to research survey (N = 6). The gathered data were processed open coding and presented card unloading...

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop, evaluate, and standardize a short form of the well-established Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q). The newly developed EDE-Q8 was required to reflect the originally postulated structure of the EDE-Q. Method: Data were drawn from two nationwide representative population surveys in Germany: a survey conducted to develop the EDE-Q8 in 2009 (N = 2520); and a survey conducted in 2013 (N = 2508) for the evaluation and calculation of EDE-Q8 percentiles. Results: The EDE-Q8 had excellent item characteristics, very good reliability and a very good model fit for the postulated second-order factorial structure. Furthermore, a strong correlation between the EDE-Q8 and a 13 item short form of the Eating Attitudes Test was observed. Discussion: The EDE-Q8 appears to be particularly suitable in epidemiological research, when an economical assessment of global eating disorder psychopathology is required.