Alyssa M. Izquierdo

George Mason University | GMU · Department of Psychology

Introduction Objective binge eating and problematic alcohol use often co-occur and are common behaviors in emerging adults. Both behaviors are thought to be driven by affect regulation processes. Objective binge eating often occurs in the context of increasing or acute negative affect, and often occurs in solitude. Alcohol use in emerging adults ca...

Despite the effectiveness of medication-assisted treatment (MAT), adults receiving MAT experience opioid cravings and engage in non-opioid illicit substance use that increases the risk of relapse and overdose. The current study examines whether negative urgency, defined as the tendency to act impulsively in response to intense negative emotion, is...

Plain English summary Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase risk for eating disorders (EDs). Discrimination based on race, gender, and gender and sexual identity is also linked to ED behaviors. This paper examined whether discrimination impacted ED behaviors when ACEs were considered to understand how they both might play a role in risk for...

Opioid overdoses within the United States continue to rise and have been negatively impacting the social and economic status of the country. In order to effectively allocate resources and identify policy solutions to reduce the number of overdoses, it is important to understand the geographical differences in opioid overdose rates and their causes....

Opioid overdoses within the United States continue to rise and have been negatively impacting the social and economic status of the country. In order to effectively allocate resources and identify policy solutions to reduce the number of overdoses, it is important to understand the geographical differences in opioid overdose rates and their causes....

Anorexia nervosa (AN) and atypical AN (AtypAN) are complex neurobiological illnesses that typically onset in adolescence with an often treatment-refractory and chronic illness trajectory. Aberrant eating behaviors in this population have been linked to abnormalities in food reward and cognitive control, but prior studies have not examined respectiv...

Objective: In adults, low-weight restrictive eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa (AN), are marked by chronicity and diagnostic crossover from restricting to binge-eating/purging. Less is known about the naturalistic course of these eating disorders in adolescents, particularly atypical AN (atyp-AN) and avoidant/restrictive food intake dis...

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal behaviors are prevalent in individuals with eating disorders (EDs). Negative urgency (NU; the tendency to act rashly when distressed) is a common correlate of NSSI, suicide, and ED pathology. The aim of this study was to examine whether lifetime history of NSSI and suicide attempts (SA) contributed unique...

Background: Females with anorexia nervosa (AN) have higher ghrelin and peptide YY (PYY) and lower brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) levels than controls, and differ in their perception of hunger cues. Studies have not examined appetite-regulating hormones in the context of homeostatic and hedonic appetite in AN. Objective: To examine wheth...

Objective: This study examined the relationship between eating-disorder behaviors-including restrictive eating, binge eating, and purging-and suicidal ideation. We hypothesized that restrictive eating would significantly predict suicidal ideation, beyond the effects of binge eating/purging. Methods: Participants were 82 adolescents and young adu...

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is characterized in part by limited dietary variety, but dietary characteristics of this disorder have not yet been systematically studied. Our objective was to examine dietary intake defined by diet variety, macronutrient intake, and micronutrient intake in children and adolescents with full or sub...

Objective The majority of individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) have a fat‐phobic (FP‐AN) presentation in which they explicitly endorse fear of weight gain, but a minority present as non‐fat‐phobic (NFP‐AN). Diagnostic criteria for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) specifically exclude fear of weight gain. Differential diagnosis be...

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder with the core motor features of resting tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and postural instability. Non-motor symptoms also occur, and include cognitive dysfunction, mood disorders, anosmia (loss of smell), and REM sleep disturbances. As the development of medications and other therapies for...