Carolina Casasnovas

Publications (2)6.41 Total impact

• Article: Comparison study of full and subthreshold bulimia nervosa: Personality, clinical characteristics, and short-term response to therapy.

  Isabel Krug, Carolina Casasnovas, Roser Granero, Cristina Martinez, Susana Jiménez-Murcia, Cynthia Bulik, Fernando Fernández-Aranda
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  ABSTRACT: This study compared symptomatological and personality differences between individuals with threshold bulimia nervosa (BN; n=39) and those with subthreshold BN (n=39) and their short-term response to a brief outpatient intervention. Participants were matched using a pairwise matching procedure, taking into account age, age of onset, and duration of the disorder. Both groups received the same brief outpatient psychoeducational therapy. The same assessment measures were used before and after treatment. With the exception of some clinical and psychopathological symptoms (higher depression and phobic anxiety in threshold BN), there were no significant between-group differences on scales of general psychopathology or personality traits. At the end of treatment, there were no significant between-group differences on abstinence rates for binge eating and vomiting, number of sessions attended, or dropout rates. Threshold BN and subthreshold BN share common psychopathological symptoms and personality traits. No differences in therapy outcome were observed for the two groups after a brief group psychoeducational intervention.
  Psychotherapy Research 02/2008; 18(1):37-47. · 1.75 Impact Factor
• Article: Contribution of the serotoninergic system to anxious and depressive traits that may be partially responsible for the phenotypical variability of bulimia nervosa.

  Marta Ribasés, Fernando Fernández-Aranda, Mònica Gratacòs, Josep M Mercader, Carolina Casasnovas, Araceli Núñez, Julio Vallejo, Xavier Estivill
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  ABSTRACT: Eating disorders (ED), such as anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), are complex psychiatric phenotypes influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. We investigated the genetic contribution of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the serotonin receptor 5HT2C and two sequence variants within the serotonin transporter SLC6A4 to different ED-related psychopathological symptoms in a total sample of 82 ED patients. All patients were diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria and underwent diagnostic and psychopathological assessments by means of structured clinical interviews and rating scales. We detected significant evidence of association between the -995A/-759T/-697C/Cys23 haplotype of the 5HT2C gene and different anxious and depressive subscales of the SCL90-R instrument, that included Somatization (p = 0.029), Obsessive-Compulsiveness (p = 0.021), Depression (p = 0.032), Anxiety (p = 0.004), Hostility (p = 0.028), Phobic Anxiety (p = 0.029) and Paranoid Ideation (p = 0.008), in BN patients. We also observed a strong association between the 5HTTLPR polymorphism of the SLC6A4 gene and Anxiety in the same group of BN patients (p = 0.004). However, no epistatic effects between the 5HT2C and SLC6A4 genes on the different anxious and depressive subscales were observed. Our preliminary data suggest that the serotoninergic system contributes to the different psychopathological symptoms that may be partially responsible for the phenotypical variability within the bulimic phenotype.
  Journal of Psychiatric Research 02/2008; 42(1):50-7. · 4.66 Impact Factor