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Delay Discounting of Reward and Impulsivity in Eating Disorders: From Anorexia Nervosa to Binge Eating Disorder
Author(s) -
Steward Trevor,
MestreBach Gemma,
VintróAlcaraz Cristina,
Agüera Zaida,
JiménezMurcia Susana,
Granero Roser,
FernándezAranda Fernando
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
european eating disorders review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1099-0968
pISSN - 1072-4133
DOI - 10.1002/erv.2543
Subject(s) - impulsivity , eating disorders , delay discounting , psychology , anorexia nervosa , bulimia nervosa , temporal discounting , binge eating disorder , discounting , binge eating , psychiatry , clinical psychology , finance , economics
Abstract Evidence points to eating disorder patients displaying altered rates of delay discounting (one's degree of preference for immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards). Anorexia nervosa (AN) patients are believed to have an increased capacity to delay reward, which reflects their ability to override the drive to eat. Contrarily, binge eating disorder (BED) patients are associated with a reduced predisposition to delay gratification. Here, we investigated monetary delay discounting and impulsivity in 80 adult women with EDs (56 AN and 24 BED), diagnosed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition criteria, and 80 healthy controls. AN‐restrictive (AN‐R) subtype patients showed less steep discounting rates than BED and AN‐bingeing/purging subtype patients. Compared with healthy controls and AN‐R patients, BED and AN‐bingeing/purging patients presented higher delay discounting and positive and negative urgency levels. Our findings suggest that restriction in AN‐R patients is associated with disproportionate self‐control, whereas bingeing behaviours could be more driven by emotional states and impulsivity traits. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.