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Dysfunctional metacognitions in anorexia nervosa

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to compare women with anorexia nervosa (AN) and without AN in terms of dysfunctional metacognitions. METHOD: 167 Australian women with AN (N=74; mean age 24.3 yrs) and without AN (N=93; mean age 27.3 yrs) completed the Metacognitions Questionnaire-30. RESULTS: Multivariate analyses revealed that relative to controls, AN patients had higher scores on metacognitive dysfunction: they exhibited low confidence in their cognitive competence, reported obsessively monitoring and striving to control their thoughts, and held negative beliefs about the danger of worrying. Furthermore, this was not due to starvation effects. However, patients did not exhibit significantly more positive beliefs about worry than controls once body mass index had been controlled. CONCLUSION: Metacognitive dysfunction may play a key role in the maintenance of AN; therefore, metacognitive therapy may be usefully applied to its treatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, 21 Halpin Street, West Brunswick, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia, 3055

    C. J. McDermott

  2. Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    N. Rushford

  3. Eating Disorders Unit, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    N. Rushford

Authors
  1. C. J. McDermott
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  2. N. Rushford
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Correspondence to C. J. McDermott.

Additional information

During the bulk of the research, the first author was a student at The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

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McDermott, C.J., Rushford, N. Dysfunctional metacognitions in anorexia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord 16, e49–e55 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03327521

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