title: Effect of psychological treatment on attentional bias in eating disorders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of these studies were (a) to investigate the relationship between attentional bias and eating disorders and (b) examine the impact of psychological treatment on attentional bias.
  
  
  METHODS
  The first study compared performance on a pictorial dot probe of 82 female patients with clinical eating disorders and 44 healthy female controls. The second study compared the performance of 31 patients with eating disorder on the same task before and after receiving 20 weeks of standardized cognitive behavior therapy. Twenty-four patients with eating disorder served as wait-list controls
  
  
  RESULTS
  With the exception of neutral shape stimuli, attentional biases for eating, shape, and weight stimuli were greater in the patient sample than the healthy controls. The second study found that attentional biases significantly reduced after active treatment only.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Attentional biases may be an expression of the eating disorder. The question of whether such biases warrant specific intervention requires further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom. r.shafran@reading.ac.uk
authors.forename: Roz
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shafran
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Zafra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Fairburn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011581:Psychological Tests; D013008:Somatotypes