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Biomedical subjects

Philippe Jeammet

Publications and source records attributed to Philippe Jeammet.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Expressed emotion and anorexia nervosa: the validation of the Five-Minute Speech Sample in reference to the Camberwell Family Interview.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of the current study was to test whether the Five-Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) assessments of expressed emotion (EE) in families with a daughter with anorexia nervosa (AN) are valid in comparison to the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI). METHOD: The sample included parents of hospitalized patients with AN. Assessments were conducted at the time of patients' discharge from the hospital. The participants (n = 40) were assessed individually with the FMSS and then the CFI. FMSS-EE ratings were classified as high or low for Emotional Overinvolvement (EOI), Critical EE, and Final EE (overall rating). For the CFI, average EE scores were computed on the same subscales. RESULTS: Comparisons of FMSS subgroups on the CFI mean scores revealed that parents rated high EE on the FMSS subscales (EOI and Final EE) had significantly greater mean scores on the CFI than parents rated low EE on the FMSS (EOI: p = .02; Final EE: p = .04). Furthermore, FMSS-EE ratings were positively correlated to CFI-EE ratings for EOI EE (r = .38, p = .01), Critical EE (r = .31, p = .05), and Final EE (r = .29, p = .07). CONCLUSION: The FMSS can reliably measure EE in reference to the CFI in terms of Final EE and EOI EE. For the Critical EE subgroup, further investigation is needed with a bigger sample size.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Does the frequency of anxiety and depressive disorders differ between diagnostic subtypes of anorexia nervosa and bulimia?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present work is to determine whether the prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders varies in subgroups of eating disorders (ED) according to age, ED duration, mode of care provision, and body mass index (BMI). METHOD: Using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), the frequency of anxiety and depressive disorders was evaluated in 271 ED participants. Their prevalence was compared in subgroups of anorexics (AN-R and AN-BN) and bulimics (BN), both before and after controlling for potential confounding variables. RESULTS: Current or lifetime comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders did not differ between AN-R and AN-BN groups. Social phobia, panic disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were significantly more frequent in AN-BN and AN-R groups. Panic disorder was more frequent in the BN group. CONCLUSION: Several confounding factors, in particular those identified in the present study, may explain previous conflicting results on the frequency of anxiety and depressive disorders in ED. Nevertheless, the study confirmed that OCD is more frequent in AN, even after controlling for confounding factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Personality and repeated suicide attempts in dependent adolescents and young adults.

This study compared personality characteristics of subjects with dependence disorders who had previously made a suicide attempt. The population, recruited in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, was composed of 570 subjects (225 females, 345 males, mean age = 27.3, SD = 8.5). The subjects' psychological dimensions were investigated by means of several self-report questionnaires including: BDI-13 (Beck), Sensation-Seeking Scale (Zuckerman), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Taylor), Interpersonal Dependency Inventory (Hirschfeld), MMPI-2, and some additional scales. For most dimensions, repeat attempters, both past and recent, but more specifically the recent repeaters, had a more severe psychological profile compared to the other suicide attempters.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Alexithymia in infertile women.

OBJECTIVE: Alexithymia was compared in women with fertility disorders and fertile women who have never been confronted with fertility problems. METHOD: Self-report instruments (TAS-20 and BVAQ) were used to measure alexithymia in a group of 73 infertile women and in a comparison group of 32 fertile women. Semi-structured interviews were used to assess medical history, current and lifetime diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. RESULTS: Infertile women showed significantly higher rates of alexithymia than fertile women. The degree of alexithymia does not constitute a discriminating variable between unexplained infertile women and women with an organic aetiology of infertility. The prevalence of psychiatric diagnosis did not differ between the two groups of patients. Lifetime prevalence of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder were statistically comparable. CONCLUSION: This result raises the question of secondary alexithymia as a coping strategy in women with fertility troubles. Given the lack of published data on alexithymia in infertile women, there is a need to replicate our results and evaluate other aspects of affect regulation in infertile patients.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Dependency and suicidality in addictive disorders.

Excessive interpersonal dependency has been described in depression and addictive disorders. Moreover, excessive dependency and suicidality are linked in psychiatric subjects, but their relationships have not been studied in specific addictions. Separate samples of female anorectic patients (n=150), female bulimic patients (n=95), male (n=150) or female (n=68) alcoholics, male (n=94) or female (n=54) drug abusers and non-psychiatric control subjects (n=683) were included in the study. On the basis of a structured interview, suicidal ideations, number of previous suicide attempts and diagnoses of dependent personality disorder (DSM-IV) were collected, and the subjects completed the Interpersonal Dependency Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory. Logistic regression analysis revealed that excessive dependency and notably dependent personality disorder increased the likelihood of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts with a range of 2.65 to 9.42 in bulimic patients, female alcoholics and male drug abusers. Excessive dependency in specific addictive disorders as well as in male non-psychiatric subjects could constitute a risk factor for suicide. This hypothesis must be confirmed using prospective studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Depressive personality dimensions and alexithymia in eating disorders.

An association has been reported between high levels of alexithymia and depression in patients with eating disorders. This study has examined alexithymic features and depressive experiences in patients with DSM-IV eating disorder (restricting anorexia, n=105; purging anorexia, n=49; bulimia, n=98) and matched controls (n=279). The subjects were assessed with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20); the Beck Depression Inventory; and the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire, which defines two types of depressive personality style (dependent and self-critical). The patients had high levels of alexithymic features and depressive symptoms. Comparisons of alexithymic features between patients and controls after adjustment for depression showed a significant difference between bulimic patients and controls for the TAS Difficulty Identifying Feelings factor, and between restricting anorexic patients and controls for the TAS Difficulty Describing Feelings factor. With regard to depressive personality styles, only scores on the self-critical dimension were significantly higher in bulimic patients than in restricting anorexic patients and controls. In the entire group of eating disorders, dependency was associated with the TAS Difficulty Identifying Feelings factor only in anorexic patients. Self-criticism, on the other hand, was associated with the TAS Difficulty Identifying Feelings factor in all subtypes of eating disorders, although the relationship was significantly stronger in restricting anorexic than in bulimic patients. The results of this study suggest that people with restricting anorexia and bulimia show specific clinical profiles associating alexithymic features and depressive dimensions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

[Psychopathology of the cannabis user teenager].

Over the past 10 years, cannabis use among adolescents has considerably increased. It became a major issue in public health. Today, the cannabis adolescents smoke is more concentrated in tetrahydroxycannabinol. Most of young people are using cannabis to deal with their psychological problems. In a way, cannabis use is more therapeutic than recreative. Substance abuse undercovers adolescent identity fragility. This fragility could lead to depression. The adolescent, by trying to manage this depression with cannabis use, jeopardize his individualisation process. Addiction has a specific function in adolescent psyche. It regulates the interpersonal relationship which is been considered as a treat by the adolescent. By this way, he's trying to avoid intrusion and abandonment anxiety.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Emotion-processing deficits in eating disorders.

OBJECTIVE: First, we measured both emotional awareness and alexithymia to understand better emotion-processing deficits in eating disorder patients (EDs). Second, we increased the reliability of the measures by limiting the influence of confounding factors (negative affects). METHOD: Seventy females with eating disorders were compared with 70 female controls. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; depression), the Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS; anxiety), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS; alexithymia), and the Level of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS). RESULTS: EDs exhibited higher alexithymia scores and lower LEAS scores, with an inability to identify and describe their own emotions, as well as an impairment in mentalizing others' emotional experience. Whereas alexithymia scores were related to depression scores, LEAS scores were not. After controlling for depression, alexithymia scores were similar in EDs and controls. DISCUSSION: The marked impairment in emotion processing found in EDs is independent of affective disorders. Thus, the joint use of TAS and LEAS suggests a global emotion-processing deficit in EDs.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Correlation between serum levels of interleukin-4 and alexithymia scores in healthy female subjects: preliminary findings.

Some studies suggest that inaccuracy in recognizing and describing emotional states, combined with a highly descriptive mode of expression, as in alexithymia, may influence the immune response. We therefore investigated in healthy women the relationship between alexithymia and circulating levels of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4. Seventeen mentally and physically healthy women aged between 20 and 25 years completed psychological questionnaires to assess alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale: TAS) and depressed mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: HAD). Serum concentrations of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4 were measured by ELISA. We found a significant positive correlation between serum levels of IL-4 and TAS score (r=0.55; p=0.021) and between factor 1 of the TAS (difficulty in identifying feelings) and IL-4 (r=0.57; p=0.017) while serum IL-1 and IL-2 were not detected in ten and six patients, respectively. Although there was a significant correlation between age and IL-4 levels, a linear regression with BMI, age, depressed mood and TAS as independent variables showed that only alexithymia could predict significantly increased levels of IL-4. Alexithymia and difficulty in identifying feelings could be associated with increased levels of IL-4 which may result in chronic impairment of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine balance with psychological and somatic consequences. Nevertheless, these intriguing findings would deserve replication and extension in a larger sample of subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Correlation between serum levels of interleukin-4 and alexithymia scores in healthy female subjects: preliminary findings.

OBJECTIVE: Some studies suggest that inaccuracy in recognizing and describing emotional states, combined with a highly descriptive mode of expression, as in alexithymia, may influence the immune response. We therefore investigated in healthy women the relationship between alexithymia and circulating levels of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4. METHOD: Seventeen mentally and physically healthy women aged between 20 and 25 years completed psychological questionnaires to assess alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale: TAS) and depressed mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: HAD). Serum concentrations of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4 were measured by ELISA. RESULTS: We found a significant positive correlation between serum levels of IL-4 and TAS score (r = 0.55; p = 0.021) and between factor 1 of the TAS (difficulty in identifying feelings) and IL-4 (r = 0.57; p = 0.017) while serum IL-1 and IL-2 were not detected in ten and six patients, respectively. Although there was a significant correlation between age and IL-4 levels, a linear regression with BMI, age, depressed mood and TAS as independent variables showed that only alexithymia could predict significantly increased levels of IL-4. CONCLUSION: Alexithymia and difficulty in identifying feelings could be associated with increased levels of IL-4 which may result in chronic impairment of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine balance with psychological and somatic consequences. Nevertheless, these intriguing findings would deserve replication and extension in a larger sample of subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Alexithymia, depressive experiences, and dependency in addictive disorders.

Alexithymia, depressive feelings, and dependency are interrelated dimensions that are considered potential "risk factors" for addictive disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between these dimensions and to define a comprehensive model of addiction in a large sample of addicted subjects, whether affected by an eating disorder or presenting an alcohol- or a drug use-related disorder. The participants in this study were gathered from a multicenter collaborative study on addictive behaviors conducted in several psychiatric departments in France, Switzerland, and Belgium between January 1995 and March 1999. The clinical sample was composed of 564 patients (149 anorexics, 84 bulimics, 208 alcoholics, 123 drug addicts) of both genders with a mean age of 27.3 +/- 8 years. A path analysis was conducted on the 564 dependent patients and 518 matched controls using the scores of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire, and the Interpersonal Dependency Inventory. Statistical analyses showed good adjustment (Goodness of Fit Index = 0.977) between the observable data and the assumed model, thus supporting the hypothesis that a depressive dimension, whether anaclitic or self-critical, can facilitate the development of dependency in vulnerable alexithymic subjects. This result has interesting clinical implications because identifying specific patterns of relationships leading from alexithymia to dependency can provide clues to the development of targeted strategies for at-risk subjects.

Adolescent↗