Pragmatic Sensory Screening in Anorexia Nervosa and Associations with Autistic Traits

Abstract

Background: Research suggests that people with anorexia nervosa (AN) experience subjective hypersensitivity to external sensations that may require consideration in treatment. These difficulties may be particularly pronounced in people with AN and high autistic traits. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the use of a brief screening tool to assess sensory sensitivity in individuals receiving treatment for AN, and to assess if self-rated sensitivity in AN is related to autistic traits. Methods: 47 individuals receiving treatment for AN completed a brief sensory screening tool and self-rated their autistic traits. Individuals were also asked to give qualitative feedback on the screening tool. Results: People with AN and high autistic traits rated themselves as more hypersensitive compared to people with AN and low autistic traits. Feedback surrounding the use of the screener was positive. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the use of this screener may be beneficial in eating disorder settings to help adjust and calibrate treatment to personal needs, although further research and psychometric evaluation around the clinical use of the screener is required. The finding that people with AN and high autistic traits may experience elevated hypersensitivity also warrants further exploration in future research.

Sensory wellbeing workshops for inpatient and day-care patients with anorexia nervosa

“…For example, research demonstrates that people with EDs avoid new sensory experiences. Kinnaird and colleagues demonstrated that patients with EDs, with and without autism spectrum comorbidity, are hypersensitive to smells, touch and noise, and hypersensitivity in different domains could be addressed in their treatment [ 4 – 6 ]. Clinical audit data shows that almost 37% of people with AN treated in inpatient and day-care programmes have high Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) traits and are therefore likely to experience some sensory differences [ 7 ].…”

“…We also found that patients with no autistic traits as well as high autistic traits benefited from the sensory changes made in the dining room evidenced with focus groups [ 9 ]. Based on the research evidence [ 4 , 10 ], we have developed one-off workshops which offer both psychoeducational content and experiential activities to support patients by creating a soothing and helpful sensory toolkit.…”

Advances in Eating Disorders

“…To address this important health issue, the current Special Issue collected 21 articles examining the most recent and relevant scientific findings regarding advances in ED. The published articles comprised three reviews and 18 research articles focusing on different aspects, such as genetic [ 7 ] and epigenetic factors [ 8 ], biomarkers [ 9 ], comorbidity [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], clinical phenotypes [ 15 , 16 ], neurocognition [ 12 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], treatment predictors [ 22 ], and treatment models and therapeutic targets [ 19 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. Altogether, these studies may provide increased knowledge about the pathogenesis, the risk factors, the maintenance factors, and the most appropriate treatments tools for ED.…”

“…Therefore, Kerr-Gaffney et al [ 13 ] compared the emotion recognition abilities and attention to faces using eye-tracking in patients with AN and healthy control, concluding that difficulties in emotion recognition appear to be associated with high comorbid autistic traits rather than with a phenotypic feature of AN, independent of illness state. In the same vein, Kinnaird et al [ 14 ] explored the use of a brief sensory sensitivity screener in patients with AN, to assess whether self-rated sensory sensitivity is related to autistic traits. The results of this study showed that patients with AN and high autistic traits scored themselves as more sensitive in the areas of smell, vision, texture, and overall total screening scores, compared to those with low autistic traits.…”

“…This collection also includes a set of studies that analyze the role of implicit–explicit emotion in patients with ED and their families, supporting the important role of the emotion recognition [ 13 , 14 ], the expressed emotion [ 27 ] or the emotion regulation strategies [ 12 , 17 ] in the development and maintenance of these disorders.…”