title: Theory of mind in eating disorders and their relationship to clinical profile.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to assess cognitive and affective theory of mind (ToM) in patients with eating disorders and to explore its relationship with the clinical and psychopathological profile.
  
  
  METHODS
  Theory of mind was assessed in 65 women, consisting of 22 with anorexia nervosa (AN), 19 with bulimia nervosa (BN), and 24 healthy controls (HC), using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Faux Pas Test. These tasks evaluate affective and cognitive ToM, respectively. We also examined the correlations between performance on ToM tasks and the clinical psychopathological profile, which was extensively evaluated through self-report instruments and clinical interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with AN had poorer performance than BN patients and HCs had in the affective ToM task, particularly in recognizing negative emotions and emotions in male eyes. Moreover, this deficit showed no correlation with the psychopathological profile. Performance in the BN group was equivalent to that of HCs in both tasks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, patients with AN showed an impairment in affective ToM, independent of their clinical status. Consistent with other studies, our findings demonstrate a specific difficulty in social cognition in patients with AN. This may be a trait marker in this population and should be considered in treatment. Furthermore, patients with AN and BN have different difficulty profiles in this domain of social cognition.
authors.affiliation: CONICET-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Department of Cognitive Neurology, Neuropsychology and Neuropsychiatry, Instituto de Investigaciones Neurológicas Raúl Carrea-FLENI, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Section of Eating Disorders, Hospital General Cosme Argerich, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Fernanda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tapajóz Pereira de Sampaio
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soneira
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aulicino
authors.forename: Ricardo F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Allegri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D056345:Theory of Mind; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anorexia; bulimia; clinical profile; social cognition; theory of mind