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Are socio‐emotional and neurocognitive functioning predictors of therapeutic outcomes for adults with anorexia nervosa?
Author(s) -
Oldershaw Anna,
Lavender Tony,
Schmidt Ulrike
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
european eating disorders review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1099-0968
pISSN - 1072-4133
DOI - 10.1002/erv.2602
Subject(s) - neurocognitive , psychology , psychosocial , anorexia nervosa , eating disorders , psychopathology , clinical psychology , cognition , psychiatry
Abstract Background Emotional, social, and neurocognitive factors are theorised to maintain anorexia nervosa (AN). Yet whether they predict outcomes or relate to clinical change remains unclear. Methods Seventy‐one consecutive adult outpatient eating disorder service referrals presenting with AN, who participated in a randomised controlled trial comparing 2 psychotherapies, were assessed for emotional processing, social cognition, and neurocognition pretherapy and posttherapy. Intention‐to‐treat analysis employed maximum‐likelihood methods to model missing data. Baseline self‐reported emotional processing, social cognitive, or neurocognitive task performance was entered into forward stepwise regression models with posttreatment clinical outcomes (weight, eating disorder psychopathology, psychosocial functioning) as dependent variables. Correlation analyses examined relationships between clinical and self‐report/task score change. Results Self‐reported emotional avoidance (behavioural/cognitive avoidance, low acceptance) and submissive behaviour predicted clinical outcomes. Social cognitive (emotion recognition, emotional theory of mind) and neurocognitive performance (set‐shifting, detail focus) had limited predictive ability. Conclusions Emotional avoidance and submissiveness may represent maintenance factors for AN.