Cognitive Remediation Therapy as a Feasible Treatment for a Young Person With Anorexia Nervosa and Autism Spectrum Disorder Comorbidity: A Case Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasemin Dandil ◽  
Claire Baillie ◽  
Kate Tchanturia
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Cognitive Remediation ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Complex Case ◽  
Central Coherence ◽  
Cognitive Remediation Therapy

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a challenging illness to treat with inefficiencies in central coherence and set-shifting known to be cognitive maintaining factors for the eating disorder. AN is further complicated by comorbidities such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) aims to address problems with cognitive style and meta-cognition by stimulating the neural connections involved in cognitive processing through cognitive tasks, reflection, and behavioral experiments. However, to date, no reported studies are supporting individual CRT for patients with AN and ASD comorbidity. This single complex case study provides preliminary evidence to support the efficacy of individual CRT in the treatment of a 21-year-old female patient with AN and ASD comorbidity. Clinical and self-report data collected before and after CRT indicate improvements in cognitive flexibility and central coherence, alongside an increase in body mass index (BMI). This case study reflects the possible ways to adapt and calibrate treatment to individual needs and the efficacy of CRT, before proceeding to more complex individual psychological work, such as cognitive behavioral therapy.

scholarly journals Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Anorexia Nervosa Comorbidity: Common Features and Treatment Possibilities With Cognitive Remediation Therapy and Oxytocin

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Plemeniti Tololeski ◽  
Ana Suhodolčan Grabner ◽  
Hojka Gregoric Kumperscak
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Young Patients ◽  
Cognitive Remediation ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Cognitive Remediation Therapy ◽  
Holistic Treatment ◽  
Common Features

Autistic traits or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be found in 4% to 52% of anorexic patients, which makes the treatment of these patients very challenging. In this review, possible ways to treat ASD and anorexia nervosa (AN) comorbidity in children and adolescents are summarized. Over recent years, the focus has shifted from searching for the evidence of connections between these two disorders, which have started with Gillberg's study in 1983, to searching for more effective and holistic treatment of this comorbidity. The latter is known to contribute to more severe courses and worse prognosis, which is probably related to the obstacles in both diagnosing and treating. Since AN usually starts in early adolescence and high-functioning ASD children seem to begin struggling with increased pressure in adolescence, while various comorbidities can occur, it is important to improve the treatment of this comorbidity in young patients and to tailor it specifically in terms of diagnosing. In this paper, a literature review is conducted on common features and promising treatment possibilities. We describe cognitive remediation therapy and the promising pharmacotherapeutic candidate oxytocin with a special focus on adolescents.

scholarly journals Therapeutic responses to a frontal/executive programme in autism spectrum disorder: Comparison with schizophrenia

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Maki Miyajima ◽  
Hidetoshi Omiya ◽  
Kiyoko Yamashita ◽  
Kenji Yambe ◽  
Mie Matsui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Dysfunction ◽  
Therapeutic Response ◽  
Cognitive Remediation ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Remediation Therapy ◽  
Disease Concepts ◽  
Recent Debate

Introduction Studies on autism spectrum disorder in recent years have controversially indicated similarities with schizophrenia. Cognitive dysfunction is present in both disorders, and while there is a rich array of interventions for cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia, there are few such treatments for autism spectrum disorder. In this study, we have investigated a potentially useful approach in autism spectrum disorder by comparing autism spectrum disorder with schizophrenia in regard to the characteristics of cognitive dysfunction and therapeutic response to cognitive remediation therapy. Method We studied seven patients with autism spectrum disorder and eight patients with schizophrenia, using a frontal/executive programme as the intervention. The characteristics of cognitive dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder before frontal/executive programme and the therapeutic response to frontal/executive programme in autism spectrum disorder patients were compared with those in schizophrenia patients, based on evaluation of cognitive function and social function. The changes in cognitive and social function after treatment in each patient group were compared using the Mann–Whitney’s U test. Results The severity of cognitive dysfunction did not differ significantly between autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. Frontal/executive programme was effective in autism spectrum disorder, with subjects showing about the same therapeutic response as in schizophrenia. Conclusion Frontal/executive programme appears to be useful for patients with autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, the similarities in cognitive dysfunction and therapeutic response between autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia are highly relevant to the recent debate concerning the similarity between these two disease concepts.

scholarly journals Autism symptoms in anorexia nervosa: a comparative study with females with autism spectrum disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jess Kerr-Gaffney ◽  
Hannah Hayward ◽  
Emily J. H. Jones ◽  
Daniel Halls ◽  
Declan Murphy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Clinical Interview ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Social Responsiveness ◽  
Repetitive Behaviour ◽  
Autism Symptoms ◽  
Specific Symptom

Abstract Background Recent research suggests a link between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and anorexia nervosa (AN). Individuals with AN show high scores on measures of ASD symptoms, relative to individuals without AN, however, there are currently no studies directly comparing women with AN to women with ASD. The aim of the current study was to examine profiles of ASD symptoms in young women in the acute and recovered stages of AN, women with ASD, and typically developing controls (TD), on both self-report and clinical interview measures. Methods Four groups of participants aged 12–30 years were included (n = 218): AN, recovered AN (REC), ASD, and TD. Group differences on the Social Responsiveness Scale, 2nd edition (SRS-2), 10-item Autism Quotient (AQ-10), and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd edition (ADOS-2) were examined. To explore similarities and differences in specific symptom profiles associated with AN and ASD, individual item endorsement on the ADOS-2 was also examined in AN, REC, and ASD. Results Across measures, women with ASD showed the highest scores, and TDs the lowest. Generally, individuals with AN and REC showed intermediate levels of ASD symptoms, scoring between the other two groups. However, AN and ASD did not differ on restricted interests and repetitive behaviour subscales. The ADOS-2 item ‘quality of social response’ adequately discriminated between ASD and non-ASD participants. Limitations A full diagnostic assessment for ASD was not provided for participants with AN/REC, nor were eating disorders assessed in the ASD group. Therefore, some diagnostic overlap between groups is possible. The cross-sectional design is another limitation. Conclusions The results suggest similarities in scores on both self-report and clinical interview measures in AN and ASD. However, individual ADOS-2 item analyses also revealed subtle differences, particularly in reciprocal social interaction. ASD symptoms may be a combination of both state and trait features in AN.

scholarly journals A case study of a multiply talented savant with an autism spectrum disorder: neuropsychological functioning and brain morphometry

2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1522) ◽  
pp. 1425-1432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory L. Wallace ◽  
Francesca Happé ◽  
Jay N. Giedd
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Neuropsychological Functioning ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Central Coherence ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Brain Morphometry ◽  
Visuospatial Processing

Neuropsychological functioning and brain morphometry in a savant (case GW) with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and both calendar calculation and artistic skills are quantified and compared with small groups of neurotypical controls. Good memory, mental calculation and visuospatial processing, as well as (implicit) knowledge of calendar structure and ‘weak’ central coherence characterized the cognitive profile of case GW. Possibly reflecting his savant skills, the superior parietal region of GW's cortex was the only area thicker (while areas such as the superior and medial prefrontal, middle temporal and motor cortices were thinner) than that of a neurotypical control group. Taken from the perspective of learning/practice-based models, skills in domains (e.g. calendars, art, music) that capitalize upon strengths often associated with ASD, such as detail-focused processing, are probably further enhanced through over-learning and massive exposure, and reflected in atypical brain structure.

scholarly journals Natural language processing (NLP) tools in extracting biomedical concepts from research articles: a case study on autism spectrum disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (S11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Peng ◽  
Mengge Zhao ◽  
James Havrilla ◽  
Cong Liu ◽  
Chunhua Weng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
Predictive Performance ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Research Articles

Abstract Background Natural language processing (NLP) tools can facilitate the extraction of biomedical concepts from unstructured free texts, such as research articles or clinical notes. The NLP software tools CLAMP, cTAKES, and MetaMap are among the most widely used tools to extract biomedical concept entities. However, their performance in extracting disease-specific terminology from literature has not been compared extensively, especially for complex neuropsychiatric disorders with a diverse set of phenotypic and clinical manifestations. Methods We comparatively evaluated these NLP tools using autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a case study. We collected 827 ASD-related terms based on previous literature as the benchmark list for performance evaluation. Then, we applied CLAMP, cTAKES, and MetaMap on 544 full-text articles and 20,408 abstracts from PubMed to extract ASD-related terms. We evaluated the predictive performance using precision, recall, and F1 score. Results We found that CLAMP has the best performance in terms of F1 score followed by cTAKES and then MetaMap. Our results show that CLAMP has much higher precision than cTAKES and MetaMap, while cTAKES and MetaMap have higher recall than CLAMP. Conclusion The analysis protocols used in this study can be applied to other neuropsychiatric or neurodevelopmental disorders that lack well-defined terminology sets to describe their phenotypic presentations.

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