Thompson Connor J, Martin-Wagar Caitlin A
Department of Psychology, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA.
Eat Disord. 2024 Sep 19:1-15. doi: 10.1080/10640266.2024.2405290.
Research has found that difficulties in emotion regulation negatively impact mental health, whereas cognitive flexibility may promote stress resilience and positive mental health. Little is known about cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation in people with comorbid eating disorder (ED) and anxiety and stress disorders. A transdiagnostic ED population ( = 227) at an outpatient ED treatment facility completed several self-report instruments that measured cognitive flexibility, emotion regulation difficulties, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms upon admission. We investigated cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation differences for those with an ED without comorbidity and those with various combinations of comorbidity. In a one-way between-groups ANOVA, we investigated differences in cognitive flexibility for those with GAD, PTSD, neither, and both comorbidities. We found a statistically significant difference between these groups, with mean cognitive flexibility inventory scores being the lowest in the group with both comorbidities. However, when controlling for emotion regulation, a one-way between-groups ANCOVA indicated no significant differences in cognitive flexibility between comorbidity groups (3, 222) = 1.20, = .31 = .02. Though self-reported cognitive flexibility levels differ among ED patients with and without comorbidities, it appears that these differences are better explained by emotion regulation. Therefore, addressing emotion regulation early in treatment for all individuals with EDs, regardless of comorbidity, is recommended as a future research focus to enhance treatment outcomes. Further research is needed to understand the impact of treating emotion regulation on ED treatment engagement, dropout, and effectiveness.
研究发现，情绪调节困难会对心理健康产生负面影响，而认知灵活性可能会促进压力恢复力和积极的心理健康。对于患有共病饮食失调（ED）以及焦虑和应激障碍的人群，我们对其认知灵活性和情绪调节知之甚少。一家门诊ED治疗机构的227名跨诊断ED患者在入院时完成了几份自我报告工具，这些工具测量了认知灵活性、情绪调节困难、创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状和广泛性焦虑障碍（GAD）症状。我们调查了无共病的ED患者与患有各种共病组合的患者在认知灵活性和情绪调节方面的差异。在一项组间单因素方差分析中，我们调查了患有GAD、PTSD、两者都无以及两者都有的患者在认知灵活性方面的差异。我们发现这些组之间存在统计学上的显著差异，共病两者的组的平均认知灵活性量表得分最低。然而，在控制情绪调节后，组间单因素协方差分析表明共病组之间在认知灵活性上没有显著差异（F(3, 222) = 1.20, p =.31, η² =.02）。尽管有共病和无共病的ED患者自我报告的认知灵活性水平存在差异，但这些差异似乎可以更好地用情绪调节来解释。因此，建议将在所有ED患者（无论是否有共病）的治疗早期解决情绪调节问题作为未来的研究重点，以提高治疗效果。需要进一步的研究来了解治疗情绪调节对ED治疗参与度、脱落率和有效性的影响。
