Marieke Meier1,2, Jolanda J Kossakowski1,3, Payton J Jones1, Brian Kay4, Bradley C Riemann4, Richard J McNally1. 1. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 2. Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany. 3. Department of Psychological Research Methods, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 4. Rogers Behavioral Health, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Eating disorders (EDs) are complex, heterogeneous, and severe psychiatric syndromes. They are highly comorbid with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) which exacerbates the course of illness and impedes treatment. However, the direct functional relations between EDs and OCD symptoms remain largely unexplored. Hence, using network analysis, we investigated the relationship between ED and OCD at the level of symptoms in a heterogeneous clinical sample. METHOD: We used cross sectional data of 303 treatment-seeking patients with clinically relevant ED and OCD pathology. We constructed a regularized partial correlation network that featured both ED and OCD symptoms as nodes. To determine each symptom's influence, we calculated expected influence (EI) as an index of symptom centrality (i.e., "importance"). Bridge symptoms (i.e., symptoms from one syndromic cluster that have strong connections to symptoms of another syndromic cluster) were identified by computing bridge expected influence metrics. RESULTS: Fear of weight gain and dietary restraint were especially important among the ED symptoms. Interference due to obsessions was the key feature of OCD. ED and OCD clustered distinctly with few potential bridges between clusters. DISCUSSION: This study underscores the importance of cognitive symptoms for both ED and OCD although direct functional links between the two clusters are missing. Potentially, a network incorporating nodes capturing features of personality may account for diagnostic comorbidity better than specific symptoms of EDs or features of OCD do.
OBJECTIVE:Eating disorders (EDs) are complex, heterogeneous, and severe psychiatric syndromes. They are highly comorbid with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) which exacerbates the course of illness and impedes treatment. However, the direct functional relations between EDs and OCD symptoms remain largely unexplored. Hence, using network analysis, we investigated the relationship between ED and OCD at the level of symptoms in a heterogeneous clinical sample. METHOD: We used cross sectional data of 303 treatment-seeking patients with clinically relevant ED and OCD pathology. We constructed a regularized partial correlation network that featured both ED and OCD symptoms as nodes. To determine each symptom's influence, we calculated expected influence (EI) as an index of symptom centrality (i.e., "importance"). Bridge symptoms (i.e., symptoms from one syndromic cluster that have strong connections to symptoms of another syndromic cluster) were identified by computing bridge expected influence metrics. RESULTS: Fear of weight gain and dietary restraint were especially important among the ED symptoms. Interference due to obsessions was the key feature of OCD. ED and OCD clustered distinctly with few potential bridges between clusters. DISCUSSION: This study underscores the importance of cognitive symptoms for both ED and OCD although direct functional links between the two clusters are missing. Potentially, a network incorporating nodes capturing features of personality may account for diagnostic comorbidity better than specific symptoms of EDs or features of OCD do.
Authors: Michael V Bronstein; Jonas Everaert; Erich Kummerfeld; Ann F Haynos; Sophia Vinogradov Journal: Int J Eat Disord Date: 2022-02-07 Impact factor: 5.791
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