Neuropsychological profiles in anorexia and bulimia nervosa

Introduction. Eating disorders are severe mental disorders that appear in different diagnostic forms, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In recent years, a number of studies have highlighted the involvement of neuropsychological processes in anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Aim. To review the evidence on the deficits in the executive functions, attentional biases and central coherence in anorexia and bulimia nervosa in relation to a neuropsychological risk profile, a different neuropsychological profile associated with the aforementioned eating pathologies and the role of variables (body mass index, age, anxiety, impulsiveness, alexithymia, mood, body image) in the presence of neuropsychological deficits. Development. We reviewed the empirical studies conducted in the last seven years found in the Medline and PsycINFO databases for English, and Dialnet and Psicodoc for Spanish. Twenty-eight articles were selected as suitable for the purposes of this study. The documents were chosen on the basis of a set of pre-established criteria. Conclusions. According to the evidence available, there seems to be a risk profile characterised by cognitive rigidity and weak central coherence. The results appear to be more consistent as regards the risk profile in anorexia nervosa. Furthermore, in both anorexia and bulimia nervosa there are attentional biases related to the recognition of emotions and social aspects, and the alexithymia trait is a modulating variable in this difficulty.