Social anxiety and agoraphobia in the eating disorders: associations with core beliefs

The eating disorders have a high comorbidity with anxiety disorders, but it is not clear what cognitions underpin those anxiety symptoms. The present study investigated whether social anxiety and agoraphobia in eating-disordered individuals are associated with different types of unconditional core beliefs. The participants were 70 women meeting DSM-IV criteria for an eating disorder. The short version of Young's Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-S) was used as a measure of core beliefs, while the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory was used as a measure of levels of social anxiety and agoraphobia. Eating-disordered individuals reporting high levels of comorbid social anxiety had higher abandoment and emotional inhibition core beliefs. In contrast, patients with high levels of agoraphobia had higher vulnerability to harm beliefs. The findings highlight the importance of identifying and addressing core beliefs in subgroups of eating-disordered individuals presenting with comorbid anxiety. Implications for future research are discussed, including the need for longitudinal studies to elaborate on the specificity of the cognition-anxiety link in the eating disorders.