The Weight of Words: An analysis of Autobiographical Narratives and Psychopathological Measures in Anorexia Nervosa

This study aims to explore the relationship between linguistic features of the Referential Process (RP) applied to autobiographical narratives, personality dimensions, and affect regulation capabilities in a group of women diagnosed with restrictive anorexia nervosa (AN). The study included 40 female participants hospitalized with AN during an acute phase, with a mean age of 19.50 (SD = 3.8). Participants completed several assessments, including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2), the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-3), the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the Relationship Anecdotes Paradigm Interview (RAP). The RAP interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for the application of RP Linguistic Measures. The results of the correlation analysis revealed several significant associations among linguistic measures, EDI-3 scale scores, affect regulation measures, and personality dimensions. The linguistic measures indicating higher rationality, abstraction, and cognitive word usage, were associated with higher psychopathological severity in AN. Alexithymia showed significant correlations with the Affect words, supporting the perspective of MCT concerning dissociation of emotional schemas. These findings confirm the relationship between linguistic measures and the severity of the disease. Therefore, autobiographical narratives can be considered not only as diagnostic indicators, but also as variables to verify the efficacy of treatments in patients with AN.