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Vulnerability and maintenance of Eating Disorder symptoms: Integrating psychological and biological factors.
Supervisors: Dr Catherine Harmer and Dr Myra Cooper
Collaboration between clinical psychology/cognitive therapy and neuroscience is rare, including in eating disorders. We have an established track record of successful and productive inter-disciplinary working in this area. Of particular interest to us are causal links between constructs used in cognitive theory and therapy for eating disorders, and the biological and neural features identified by neuroscientists.
Psychologically, we have developed self report and computerised tasks to measure cognitions related to self as well as to eating and weight and shape concerns. We also have a number of well characterised emotional/cognitive processing tasks that our work has found to be relevant to eating disorders (EDs). Biologically, we have been interested in the action of 5-HT, and have also recently used functional neuroimaging to identify dysfunction in specific areas of the brain (in response to emotional probes), in a group of people with bulimia nervosa. We have additional collaborative paradigms (for example, investigation of metacognitive processes using fMRI) that we have developed in our work in other disorders that are likely to be applicable in EDs.
The work has the potential to inform the prevention and treatment (psychological and pharmacological) of EDs. In particular it will help uncover their mechanisms of action, which in the longer term, will help tailor treatment to the individual.
We want to extend our existing work by increasing the clinical relevance of some of our assessment, applying this to the manipulation of tryptophan (to study 5-HT action), and also dopamine. We also wish to apply some of our existing neurobiological paradigms to those at risk as well as those who already have an ED. Similarly, we wish to recruit those with a diagnosis, when previously we have studied an at risk group. Finally, we wish to explore cognitive-emotional change in response to pharmacological intervention, both as proof of concept in relation to ED relevant measures, and in those with or at risk of an ED.
Dr Cooper is a clinical psychologist with expertise in cognitive theory and therapy for eating disorders. Dr Harmer is an experimental psychologist with expertise in the neurobiology of emotional processing.
Recent work:
Pringle, A., Harmer, C. & Cooper, M.J. (in press). Investigating vulnerability to eating disorders: Biases in emotional processing. Psychological Medicine.
Jansch, C., Harmer, C. & Cooper, M.J. (2009). Emotional processing in women with anorexia nervosa and healthy volunteers. Eating Behaviours, 10, 197-254.
Cooper, M.J. & Cowen, P.J. (2009). Negative self beliefs in relation to eating disorder and depressive symptoms: different themes are characteristic of the two sets of symptoms in those with eating disorders and/or depression. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy. 23, 147-159.
Cooper, M.J., Todd, G., Wells, A. (2009). Treating Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating: An Integrated Metacognitive and Cognitive Therapy Manual. London; Taylor & Francis.
Jones, L., Harmer, C. Cowen, P. & Cooper, M.J. (2008). Emotional face processing in women with high and low levels of eating disorder related symptoms. Eating Behaviors, 9, 389-397.
Woolrich, R., Cooper, M.J. & Turner, H. (2008). Metacognition in patients with anorexia nervosa, dieting and non-dieting women: a preliminary study. European Eating Disorders Review, 16, 11-20.
Harmer CJ, Goodwin GM, Cowen PJ (2009) Why do antidepressants take so long to work? A cognitive neuropsychological model of antidepressant drug action. Br J Psychiatry. 195(2):102-8
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