Core Beliefs Of Eating Disordered Patients With

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25/01/2005 - Core beliefs of eating disordered patients with anxiety need to be identified - Eating Disorders

2005 JAN 27 - -- According to recent research published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, eating disorders have a high comorbidity with anxiety disorders, but it is not clear what cognitions underpin those anxiety symptoms.

NewsRxWomensHealth via NewsEdge Corporation : 2005 JAN 27 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to recent research published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, eating disorders have a high comorbidity with anxiety disorders, but it is not clear what cognitions underpin those anxiety symptoms.

H. Hinrichsen and colleagues, University of London, St. George's Hospital, investigated whether social anxiety and agoraphobia in eating-disordered individuals are associated with different types of unconditional core beliefs.

"The participants were 70 women meeting DSM-IV criteria for an eating disorder. The short version of Young's Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-S) was used as a measure of core beliefs, while the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory was used as a measure of levels of social anxiety and agoraphobia," the researchers said.

They reported, "Eating-disordered individuals reporting high levels of comorbid social anxiety had higher abandonment and emotional inhibition core beliefs. In contrast, patients with high levels of agoraphobia had higher vulnerability to harm beliefs."

"The findings highlight the importance of identifying and addressing core beliefs in subgroups of eating-disordered individuals presenting with comorbid anxiety," Hinrichsen and coauthors wrote.

They indicated, "the need for longitudinal studies to elaborate on the specificity of the cognition-anxiety link in the eating disorders."

Hinrichsen and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (Social anxiety and agoraphobia in the eating disorders: Associations with core beliefs. J Nerv Ment Dis, 2004;192(11):784-787).

For additional information, contact H. Hinrichsen, University of London St. George's Hospital, School of Medicine, Department Mental Hlth, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, England.

The publisher's contact information for the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease is: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 530 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106-3621, USA.

The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of Eating Disorders, Social Anxiety, Core Beliefs, Psychology, Women's Health.

This article was prepared by Women's Health Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2005, Women's Health Weekly via NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net.