Eating-Related Intrusive Thoughts Inventory: Exploring the Dimensionality of Eating Disorder Symptoms

Abstract

The aims of this study were, first, to examine the structure and validity of the Eating-related Intrusive Thoughts Inventory (INPIAS), a self-report questionnaire designed to assess eating disorders related to intrusive thoughts (EDITs), and second, to explore the existence of a continuum ranging from normal to abnormal thought intrusions related to eating, weight, and shape. Participants were 574 (408 women) nonclinical community individuals. Analyses revealed that EDITs can be clustered into three sets: appearance-dieting, need to exercise, and thoughts-impulses related to eating disorders. EDITs' consequences showed a two-factor structure: emotional consequences/personal meaning and thought-action fusion responsibility; and four factors of strategies: "anxiety," suppression, obsessive-compulsive rituals, and distraction. The sample was then divided according to reported restrained eating. The High dietary restraint group reported a higher frequency of EDITs, whereas differences in the other factors were mediated by depression, anxiety, and obsessionality. The results suggest that eating disorder-related cognitions are experienced by nonclinical individuals, and distributed on a continuum.

El carácter transdiagnóstico de las intrusiones mentales: una revisión y una propuesta basada en datos.

“…De hecho, se ha demostrado que del mismo modo que las IM-obsesivas constituyen la variante normativa de las obsesiones clí-nicas, las IM-alimentarias forman parte del continuo normalidad-patología en los Trastornos Alimentarios (p. ej., Perpiñá et al, 2011).…”

“…Un primer aspecto que tienen en común el TOC y los TA es la universalidad de los dos contenidos de IM asociados a ellos, como muestran los estudios realizados tanto en población general como en personas con diagnósti-co subclínico o clínico de TA (p.ej., Perpiñá et al, 2008;Perpiñá et al, 2011;Roncero et al, 2010). García-Soriano et al (2014) examinaron si las IM-alimentarias tenían, en pacientes con TA, un rol similar al que desempeñan las IM-obsesivas en pacientes con TOC.…”

Brain connectome modularity in weight-restored anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder

“…Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) also experience distorted perception of appearance, mainly related to the conviction of being overweight despite extreme thinness (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In addition, they experience obsessive thoughts about weight, food, calories, and body shape and size (Perpina et al 2011; Garcia-Soriano et al . 2014; Belloch et al .…”

Intrusive Thoughts in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder and Eating Disorder Patients: A Differential Analysis

“…Unwanted intrusions are spontaneous and discrete thoughts, images, or impulses that are experienced as being difficult to control and as interfering with ongoing activity (Clark, ; Rachman, ). These intrusions have been specifically studied in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), although they have also been found in other mental disorders, such as post‐traumatic stress disorder (Michael, Ehlers, Halligan, & Clark, ), depression (Wahl et al, ; Wenzlaff, ), insomnia (Harvey, ), or eating disorders (ED) (Berry, Andrade, & May, ; Blackburn, Thompson, & May, ; Kavanagh, Andrade, & May, ; Perpiñá, Roncero, Belloch, & Sánchez‐Reales, ; Rawal, Park, Mark, & Williams, ), with contents related to the specific disorder. Patients and community people with subclinical scores on ED symptom instruments, experience intrusions about food, diet, physical exercise, and appearance more frequently than the general population (Belloch, Roncero, & Perpiñá, ; Cooper, Todd, Woolrich, Somerville, & Wells, , Perpiñá et al, ).…”

“…On the other hand, according to cognitive–behavioural models of ED, intrusions about food, body, weight, diet, physical exercise, and appearance can lead to emotional discomfort and the development of a series of behaviours (i.e. checking weight, doing exercise, binge eating, purging, or restricting intake) in an effort to have relief (Cooper et al, ; Fairburn, Cooper, & Shafran, ; Perpiñá et al, ; Rawal et al, ). Although OCD and ED are different clinical disorders, patients with these conditions experience unwanted intrusions with contents related to their respective feared stimuli and/or situations.…”