IPAN - Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anorexia Nervosa

CALL FOR PAPERS

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a psychopathological gendered disorder characterized by disturbance in eating behavior, which manifests in the form of dysfunctional routines, such as food deprivation, obsessive weight control, and compulsive physical exercise. Beyond the disordered eating behaviors, AN appears to be also characterized by inflexible thinking, rigid habits, disconnection from the bodily experience, strong sensitivity to praise, anxiety, and perfectionism. Interestingly, from a very linguistic point of view, evidence of the linguistic changes characterizing patients with eating disorders seems to be less clear and the overall picture more blurred.

Despite the fact that in the last decade a growing body of linguistic studies have been devoted to the investigation of linguistic changes in various clinical conditions, only a limited number of works have been specifically conducted on the linguistic profile of patients with eating disorders (ED), and an even smaller number has specifically focused on AN. This has meant that not only many issues are still unsolved, but that several linguistic aspects of AN happen to be unexplored territory.

“Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anorexia Nervosa” (IPAN) is a conference aimed at fostering multidisciplinary exchange about research on AN and, more in general, on eating disorders. It invites contributions from all fields related to the study of this subject, including (but not limited to) linguistics, psychology, and neuropsychiatry.

The conference is open for research on various aspect of eating disorders. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Linguistic profile of AN: morphosyntactic and lexical markers
• Conceptual representation of AN: Abstraction deficits and concretism
• Relationship between altered body image and disordered eating
• NLP detection of online pro-Ana and pro-Mia communities
• NLP and altered linguistic patterns in AN
• Representation of eating disorders in social media
• Analysis of voice disturbance in patients with eating disorders

This conference aims to provide an excellent opportunity to present and discuss ongoing research on eating disorders, both from theoretical and experimental viewpoints. Since our main aim is to bring together experts on ED/AN from different backgrounds and provide an environment for dialogue, we invite researchers from all related fields to submit abstracts to the conference.

INVITED SPEAKERS

Laura A. Cariola is Lecturer in Applied Psychology at the School of Health in Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. She studied Applied Linguistics and Psychology. She is a chartered member of the British Psychological Society, Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers in Psychology, and a member of the Division of Counselling Psychology. Her research focuses on the intersection of language, discourse and mental health using both linguistic and psychological approaches to explore the language of individuals affected by mental health problems and the presentation of mental health in the media. She is the author of the recently published edited volume "Eating Disorders in Public Discourse: Exploring Media Representations and Lived Experiences" (University of Exeter Press). 

Massimo Cuzzolaro, psychiatrist, headed an outpatient clinic for eating disorders and obesity at the Department of Medical Pathophysiology at Policlinico Umberto I - Sapienza University of Roma until his retirement. For over thirty years he taught Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology at the University of Roma Sapienza. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor in university Master's programs (Sapienza-Unitelma) and CME courses. He was among the founders of the "Italian Society for the Study of Eating Disorders" (SISDCA) and served as its president. He has conducted research in various areas of psychiatry and clinical psychology, documented by more than 350 scientific publications, including 12 books. He founded and edited for 25 years the journal "Eating and Weight Disorders" (Springer Nature).

Serena Mazzini is a social media strategist with 8 years of freelancing experience in large agencies (among others, Publicis Sapient, Bcube, Wavemaker, Leo Burnett). She is a contributor to “Domani Editoriale” and, during the 2021-2022 season, she appeared every Tuesday as a regular guest on “Le Mattine” on Radio Capitale. She also co-authored the podcast “Il Sottosopra”, a Chora Media production, in collaboration with Selvaggia Lucarelli. Since March 2023, she teaches in the bachelor's degree program in Graphic Design at NABA. Serena Mazzini, who is known as @serenadoe__ on Instagram, uses social media platforms to analyze the dark side of social networks.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

Marianna Bolognesi

Vittoria Cuteri

Gloria Gagliardi

Caterina Mauri

Antonia Parmeggiani

Jacopo Pruccoli

Paola Vernillo