Files and links (1)
CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Examining co-occurring social anxiety in cognitive behavioral therapy for eating disorders: Does it change and does it moderate eating disorder outcomes?
The International journal of eating disorders, Vol.57(8), pp.1776-1782
2024
PMID: 38488260
Appears in Open Access via Read & Publish Agreements
Abstract
Objective
Eating disorders (EDs) often co-occur with social anxiety disorder (SAD). However, little research has examined the influence of SAD symptoms on ED treatment outcomes in the context of individual outpatient cognitive-behavior therapy for eating disorders (CBT-ED). It is plausible that SAD symptom severity could improve as a result of ED treatment, given the high overlap between EDs and SAD. We sought to test whether baseline SAD symptoms moderate early response to CBT-ED or post-treatment outcomes in CBT-ED, and the degree to which SAD symptoms improve during therapy despite SAD not being an explicit treatment target.
Method
ED clients (N = 226) aged ≥16 years were treated with CBT-ED. Outcomes were ED symptoms, clinical impairment, and SAD symptoms measured at baseline, session 5 and post-treatment.
Results
Baseline SAD was a weak moderator of early and post-treatment ED symptoms and impairment. SAD symptoms improved moderately over treatment among clients who started with elevated levels of SAD symptomology.
Discussion
Clients with EDs can experience good therapeutic outcomes regardless of their social anxiety severity at pre-treatment. SAD symptoms reduced over CBT-ED, but protocol enhancements such as exposure-based strategies that directly target co-occurring social-evaluative concerns may help achieve larger reductions in SAD symptoms.
Public significance
Eating disorders often co-occur with anxiety disorders such as social anxiety. We found people who had both social anxiety and an eating disorder benefited as much from eating disorder treatment as people who did not have social anxiety. People who were socially anxious became less anxious as a by-product of receiving eating disorder treatment. It may be possible to reduce social anxiety further by enhancing eating disorder treatment protocols.
Details
- Title
- Examining co-occurring social anxiety in cognitive behavioral therapy for eating disorders: Does it change and does it moderate eating disorder outcomes?
- Authors/Creators
- Pheobe L Ho - School of Psychology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, AustraliaDavid M Erceg-Hurn - Centre for Clinical InterventionsPeter M McEvoy - Curtin UniversityBruce N C Campbell - Centre for Clinical InterventionsDanielle C Mathersul - War Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC), Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, United StatesHelen M Correia - School of Psychology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, AustraliaBronwyn C Raykos - Centre for Clinical Interventions
- Publication Details
- The International journal of eating disorders, Vol.57(8), pp.1776-1782
- Publisher
- Wiley Periodicals LLC.
- Identifiers
- 991005649866707891
- Copyright
- © 2024 The Authors
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Psychology; Centre for Molecular Medicine and Innovative Therapeutics
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Metrics
37 File views/ downloads
87 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 1 Clinical & Life Sciences
- 1.44 Nutrition & Dietetics
- 1.44.335 Eating Disorders
- Web Of Science research areas
- Nutrition & Dietetics
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
- Psychology, Clinical
- ESI research areas
- Psychiatry/Psychology