ED - Intolerance of uncertainty in eating disorders, an update on the field

3 important questions on ED - Intolerance of uncertainty in eating disorders, an update on the field

Intolerance of uncertainty: Anxiety

  • IU was first conceptualised as a potentially significant construct underlining GAD
  • it is a proposed trigger for behaviour in anxiety related disorders
  • trate IU predicts GAD, OCD, and SAD, and other anxiety disorders
  • trait IU consists of
    - desire for predictability
    - uncertainty paralysis
  • metacognitive therapy for GAD, and imagery-enhanced CBT for SAD show an association between a decrease in IU and a reduction in repetitive-negative thinking
  • no association between IU and depression

IU: BN and anxiety

  • high levels of anxiety
  • binging reduces anxiety of everyday life, and individuals feel nervous leading up to the binge
  • anxiety and terror after purging because of fear for weight gain and associated changes in physical appearance.
  • purging is in accordance with the Anxiety Reduction Model of BN
  • if subjects with BN are prevented from purging after binging, they report heightened feelings of anxiety

IU in the eating disorders

  • participants were tested with the bead probability task where they had to guess from which jar with red and green beads a red or green bead was taken
  • those with ED rated a higher level of distress then controls
  • those with AN showed a higher measure of IU than those of people with BN
  • IU is more strongly related with restrictive as opposed to binging psychopathology

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

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