Delusionality of beliefs among 50 adult females with severe and extreme anorexia nervosa upon admission to an acute medical stabilization facility

ABSTRACT

We aimed to evaluate whether the content of eating/body image-related beliefs in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) was associated with important aspects of eating disorder (ED) psychopathology. Females with AN completed assessments within 96 hours of admission to an inpatient medical stabilization program. Study staff administered the Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale and participants completed self-report measures. We derived belief content domains using an inductive approach and examined associations between beliefs and clinical variables. The following belief categories emerged (% with a belief in that category): body image beliefs (64%), food beliefs (30%), body function beliefs (20%), rejection of illness beliefs (12%), morality beliefs (10%), and control beliefs (6%). No one belief domain was significantly associated with greater delusional intensity. However, findings indicate that greater delusionality was generally associated with worse ED psychopathology.

Acknowledgments

None to declare.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, PEK, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.