Introduction
Despite recent advances in our understanding of eating disorders (EDs), a concerning number of individuals do not benefit from the available evidence-based treatments (Byrne et al., Reference Byrne, Fursland, Allen and Watson2011 Grilo, Reference Grilo2024; Murphy et al., Reference Murphy, Straebler, Cooper and Fairburn2010). Cognitive-behavioural interventions demonstrate heterogeneous efficacy across EDs, with higher remission rates typically observed for bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED) than for anorexia nervosa (AN); nevertheless, overall treatment response remains modest (Bruns et al., Reference Bruns, Meier and Jansen2025; Galsworthy-Francis & Allan, Reference Galsworthy-Francis and Allan2014; Linardon, Reference Linardon2018; Watson & Bulik, Reference Watson and Bulik2013). For instance, enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-E), developed to address limitations of earlier CBT approaches, continues to demonstrate high drop-out rates and low long-term remission across EDs (Cooper and Fairburn, Reference Cooper and Fairburn2011; de Jong et al., Reference de Jong, Schoorl and Hoek2018; de Jong et al., Reference de Jong, Spinhoven, Korrelboom, Deen, van der Meer, Danner, van der Schuur, Schoorl and Hoek2020; Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Cooper, Doll, O’Connor, Palmer and Dalle Grave2013; Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Bailey-Straebler, Basden, Doll, Jones, Murphy and Cooper2015). Moreover, EDs elicit severe distress and interference in daily living, as well as elevated rates of both suicidality and mortality (Arcelus et al., Reference Arcelus, Mitchell, Wales and Nielsen2011; Welch et al., Reference Welch, Jangmo and Thornton2016; Zipfel et al., Reference Zipfel, Giel, Fernandez-Aranda and Schmidt2024). Indeed, AN has the highest mortality rate among all non-substance use mental health disorders (Zipfel et al., Reference Zipfel, Giel, Fernandez-Aranda and Schmidt2024) and is associated with a 57-fold increased risk of suicidality (Keel et al., Reference Keel, Dorer, Eddy, Franko, Charatan and Herzog2003). Given the rising prevalence of EDs (Pastore et al., Reference Pastore, Indrio, Bali, Vural, Giardino and Pettoello-Mantovani2023) and the limitations of current CBT interventions, improving our understanding of the maintenance factors underlying these disorders is key.
It was recently proposed that beliefs and fears about losing control may function as a distinctly relevant transdiagnostic etiological and maintenance factor in a range of disorders, including EDs (Radomsky, Reference Radomsky2022). This construct is characterized by the belief that one can and will lose control of their thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and/or bodily functions, resulting in catastrophic consequences such as experiencing overwhelming negative emotions, engaging in dangerous behaviours, or losing one’s mental or physiological functioning (Kelly-Turner & Radomsky, Reference Kelly-Turner and Radomsky2022; Radomsky, Reference Radomsky2022; Radomsky & Gagné, Reference Radomsky and Gagné2020). Negative beliefs about losing control are implicated as an important cognitive mechanism in the prevailing transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural theory of EDs (Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Shafran and Cooper1999; Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Cooper and Shafran2003; Fairburn, Reference Fairburn2008). Specifically, this theory proposes that EDs stem from a shared core psychopathology, namely a dysfunctional system for evaluating self-worth based almost exclusively on one’s ability to exercise control over eating habits, shape, and weight (Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Cooper and Shafran2003). Binge eating behaviours and perceived dietary ‘slip-ups’ are interpreted as losses of control and result in attempts to either compensate for this loss and the resulting feared consequences (i.e., through self-induced vomiting, laxative misuse, excessive exercise, or fasting) or to regain a sense of control (i.e. through dietary restriction, body checking, or avoidance behaviours) (Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Cooper and Shafran2003; Fairburn, Reference Fairburn2008).
Qualitative accounts of individuals’ lived experiences of EDs also reflect themes that highlight negative beliefs about losing control as a potential cognitive maintenance factor. Participants with AN and BN often report that the onset of their disordered eating behaviours occurred in an attempt to compensate for a perceived lack of control of their lives (Espíndola & Blay, Reference Espíndola and Blay2009; Holmes & Ma, Reference Holmes and Ma2023; Lamoureux & Bottorff, Reference Lamoureux and Bottorff2005; Patching & Lawler, Reference Patching and Lawler2009; Redenbach & Lawler, Reference Redenbach and Lawler2003; Surgenor et al., Reference Surgenor, Plumridge and Horn2003; Tan et al., Reference Tan, Hope, Stewart and Fitzpatrick2003; Tozzi et al., Reference Tozzi, Sullivan, Fear, McKenzie and Bulik2003; Weaver et al., Reference Weaver, Wuest and Ciliska2005). Participants also report that while disordered eating behaviours initially provided a sense of control, they eventually led to more persistent and distressing perceptions of being out of control (implying that one can lose control), which ultimately exacerbates symptoms (e.g., increased dietary restriction and other weight-control behaviours) (D’Abundo & Chally, Reference D’Abundo and Chally2004; Patching & Lawler, Reference Patching and Lawler2009; Serpell et al., Reference Serpell, Treasure, Teasdale and Sullivan1999; Surgenor et al., Reference Surgenor, Plumridge and Horn2003; Tan et al., Reference Tan, Hope, Stewart and Fitzpatrick2003; Weaver et al., Reference Weaver, Wuest and Ciliska2005). Together, these qualitative findings suggest that beliefs about losing control function not only as precipitants of disordered eating but also as self-perpetuating cognitive drivers of symptom escalation over time.
Many individuals with EDs also experience marked difficulties regulating and tolerating intense emotions (Ruscitti et al., Reference Ruscitti, Rufino, Goodwin and Wagner2016; Wildes et al., Reference Wildes, Ringham and Marcus2010). Within the transdiagnostic CBT model, mood intolerance (defined as an inability to tolerate intense affective states) is conceptualized as a maintaining mechanism that leads some patients to engage in behaviours such as binge eating, vomiting, or driven exercise to modulate aversive affect, thereby perpetuating ED pathology over time (Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Cooper and Shafran2003; Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Bailey-Straebler, Basden, Doll, Jones, Murphy and Cooper2015; Cooper and Fairburn, Reference Cooper and Fairburn2011). Restrictive eating, binge eating, and purging are often experienced as strategies to avoid, numb, or suppress overwhelming emotions such as anxiety, sadness, or anger (Haynos & Fruzzetti, Reference Haynos and Fruzzetti2011; Meule et al., Reference Meule, Richard, Schnepper, Reichenberger, Georgii, Naab, Voderholzer and Blechert2019). Consistent with this account, individuals with AN report elevated levels of emotion avoidance wherein they effortfully attempt to neither experience nor express distressing emotions (Leppanen et al., Reference Leppanen, Brown, McLinden, Williams and Tchanturia2022). This avoidance may be driven by fears of losing emotional and/or mental control, which in turn motivates engagement in maladaptive ED behaviours that provide a subjective sense of control. In addition, patients with EDs commonly experience distressing intrusive thoughts and images related to food, weight, and body image (e.g., repetitive thoughts about getting fat or needing to control eating) (Kadriu et al., Reference Kadriu, Claes, Witteman, Norré, Vrieze and Krans2019; Kinkel-Ram et al., Reference Kinkel-Ram, Williams, Ortiz, Forrest, Magee, Smith and Levinson2022). Efforts to neutralize or prevent these intrusions from ‘coming true’, often through restrictive behaviours, may reflect broader fears of losing cognitive and behavioural control, particularly fears of binge eating. Relatedly, the construct of fears of losing self-control has been shown to be a stronger predictor of ED symptoms than other control-related constructs (e.g. locus of control, sense of control, desire for control, sense of mastery) (Froreich et al., Reference Froreich, Vartanian, Grisham and Touyz2016; Tiggemann & Raven, Reference Tiggemann and Raven1998). However, the self-control construct reflects general concerns about a lack of control rather than specific beliefs regarding the likelihood, meaning, and consequences of losing control, which may more accurately capture or provide additional explanatory power for the underlying control-related cognitions that contribute to ED psychopathology.
Despite the fact that negative beliefs about losing control over behaviours, emotions, and thoughts are highlighted in theoretical and qualitative accounts of EDs, these beliefs have yet to be linked quantitatively to symptomatology using a validated measure of beliefs about and feared consequences of losing control. As such, the aim of the present study was to determine whether beliefs that one can and will lose control, and the associated feared consequences, predict ED symptomatology in an analogue sample above and beyond symptoms of depression, which have been empirically validated to be highly associated to and predicted by ED symptoms (Puccio et al., Reference Puccio, Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Ong and Krug2016). In addition, given that current research suggests that individuals with ED believe it important to maintain emotional and mental control, we examined whether the feared consequences of losing control resulting in madness (MA) and overwhelming emotions (OE) are stronger predictors of ED symptomatology above feared consequences of dangerous behaviours (DB).
Hypotheses
We hypothesized the following:
-
(1)
-
(a) Beliefs about losing control would be a statistically significant predictor of ED symptoms.
-
(b) Beliefs about losing control would predict ED symptoms above and beyond symptoms of depression.
-
-
(2) Feared consequences of losing control resulting in MA and OE, would predict ED symptoms above the feared consequence of dangerous behaviours.
Method
Participants
A total of 278 undergraduate students participated in this study. To be eligible, participants had to be over 18 years old, able to read and understand English, and reside in Quebec. Participants were removed from the data set for missing data (n=5) and for not passing the attention check (n=11). This left a total of 262 participants in the final sample. According to Green (Reference Green1991) guidelines, a sample size of ≥50+8×m (m=number of predictors) is sufficient for regression analysis. Thus, the final sample size was deemed sufficient. See Table 1 for a summary of demographic information.
Sample demographics
Measures
Demographic questionnaire
Basic demographic information about age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, and educational attainment was collected.
Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory – Second edition (BALCI-II; Kelly-Turner & Radomsky, Reference Kelly-Turner and Radomsky2022)
The BALCI-II is a 32-item self-report measure assessing negative beliefs about losing control. Items are scored on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 (‘not at all’) to 4 (‘very much’). The BALCI-II consists of four subscales. Three of these subscales capture distinct feared consequences of losing control – namely, Overwhelming Emotions, Madness, and Dangerous Behaviour. The fourth subscale captures beliefs regarding the probability and severity of losses of control. In this study, the BALCI-II showed excellent internal consistency for both the whole scale (α=.96) and its subscales (Overwhelming Emotions α=.89; Madness α=.91; Dangerous Behaviour α=.93; Probability/Severity α=.93).
Eating-Disorder Examination Questionnaire – 6th Edition (Fairburn & Beglin, Reference Fairburn and Beglin2008)
The EDE-Q 6.0 is a 28-item self-report measure assessing the range, frequency, and severity of symptoms associated with restrictive EDs. The EDE-Q 6.0 generates two types of data. First, it provides frequency data on key behavioural features of restrictive EDs (i.e. dietary restraint, binge eating episodes, self-induced vomiting, and laxative misuse). Second, it produces scores on four subscales that reflect the core cognitive features of EDs: Restraint, Eating Concern, Shape Concern, and Weight Concern. In this study, the EDE-Q 6.0 showed excellent internal consistency for both the whole scale (α=.94) and its subscales (Restraint α=.89; Eating Concern α=.84; Shape Concern α=.94; Weight Concern α=.88).
Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale – Depression Subscale (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, Reference Lovibond and Lovibond1995)
The DASS-21 is a 21-item self-report measure assessing the emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress. It produces scores on three subscales corresponding to these states. For the purposes of this study, only participants’ scores on the depression subscale were included in the analyses. In this study, the DASS-21 Depression subscale showed excellent internal consistency (α=.92).
Procedure
Data for this study were collected as part of a larger psychometric study examining the relationship between various control constructs and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms, which was pre-registered on Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/QU8JX). Data collection is still underway for the larger study. Ethics approval was granted for this study from Human Research Ethics Committee (certification number: 30018889). Participants signed up for participation in this study via undergraduate participant pool. The questionnaires were administered to participants online using Qualtrics software. After registering for the study via the Psychology participant pool, participants were sent a link to the study. Upon opening the link, participants were presented with an introductory page and a digital informed consent form. Participants then completed a demographics questionnaire followed by a battery of measures including the BALCI-II, EDE-Q6.0, and DASS-21. Instructed response items were embedded in these questionnaires to assess participant’s (in)attentiveness. Participants were compensated with course credit.
Results
Assumptions
Data were first tested for assumptions for a hierarchical linear regression analysis, and no univariate and multivariate outliers were detected in the data. Based on guidelines by indicated by Kline (Reference Kline2023); i.e. skewness<|3|, kurtosis<|10|), there was no evidence of non-normality present among the variables or the residuals. The associations between the predictor and outcomes variables were linear in nature. Examination of variance inflation factors (VIF) indicated that there was no multi-collinearity among predictor variables.
Descriptives and zero-order correlations
Table 2 demonstrates the descriptives statistics and the zero-order correlations between all the variables analyzed in this study.
Descriptive statistics and correlations among variables
BALCI-II, Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory – Second Edition; EDE-Q 6.0, Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire – 6th Edition; OE, overwhelming emotions; DB, dangerous behaviours; MA, madness.
*p<.05.
**p<.01.
Hypothesis 1a
A simple linear regression was conducted to determine if beliefs about losing control significantly predicted ED symptomology. The regression was significant, adj. R 2=.08, F 1,260=23.61, p=<.001. BALCI-II was a significant predictor, β=.29, t 260=4.86, p<.001).
Hypothesis 1b
A hierarchical linear regression was conducted to determine if beliefs about losing control were a statistically significant predictor of ED symptomatology above and beyond symptoms of depression (see Table 3). In the first model, depression accounted for 18.3% of the variance in EDE-Q 6.0 total scores (adj. R 2=.18, F 1,260=59.62, p<.001). In the second model, the addition of BALCI-II did not significantly increase the explained variance (ΔR2 =.002, ΔF 1,259=.62, p=.43), indicating that BALCI-II total scores did not make a significantly unique contribution to the explained variance of EDE-Q 6.0 total beyond depression.
Hierarchical linear regression analysis predicting ED symptoms from depression symptoms and negative beliefs about losing control
BALCI-II, Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory − Second Edition; EDE-Q 6.0, Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire – 6th Edition.
*p<.001.
Hypothesis 2
A second hierarchical linear regression was conducted to determine if feared consequences of losing control resulting in MA and OE were significantly stronger predictors of ED symptomatology above and beyond the feared consequences of losing control resulting in DB (see Table 4). The first model, DB accounted for a significant proportion of variance in EDE-Q 6.0 total scores (adj. R 2=.03, F 1,260=7.88, p=.005). In line with our hypothesis, when MA and OE were entered in the second model, there was a significant increase in explained variance (ΔR 2=.06, ΔF 2,258=8.28, p<.001). However, only OE was a significant individual predictor (β=.30, t 258=2.09, p=.04), whereas MA (β=.17, t 258= 1.44, p=.15), and DB (β=–.08, t 258=–.89, p=.37), were not.
Linear regression analysis predicting ED symptoms from fears of losing control resulting in dangerous behaviours, overwhelming emotions, and madness
BALCI-II, Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory − Second Edition; EDE-Q 6.0, Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire – 6th Edition; OE, overwhelming emotions; DB, dangerous behaviours; MA, madness.
* p<.05.
Discussion
The primary aim of this study was to examine the predictive association between beliefs about losing control and ED symptomatology in an analogue sample of undergraduate students. We also sought to determine whether beliefs about losing control accounted for unique variance in ED symptoms beyond depressive symptoms, which have consistently been shown to covary with and predict ED severity (Casper, Reference Casper1998; Fragkos & Frangos, Reference Fragkos and Frangos2013). Finally, informed by contemporary transdiagnostic theories of EDs, we examined whether fears of losing control leading to OE and MA were more strongly associated with ED symptoms than fears about losing control leading to DB. Consistent with our hypotheses, beliefs about losing control significantly predicted ED symptomatology. However, these beliefs did not account for unique variance in ED symptoms above and beyond depressive symptoms. In partial support of our hypotheses, fears of losing control resulting in MA and OE significantly increased the explained variance in EDE-Q 6.0 scores beyond DB; however, OE was the only subscale that emerged as a significant individual predictor in the final model.
Several explanations may account for why beliefs about losing control did not predict ED symptoms beyond depressive symptomatology. First, depressive symptoms may be more strongly associated with ED severity than beliefs about losing control, particularly given that depression and ED symptoms have long been shown to co-occur and exert reciprocal longitudinal influences on one another (Alrahili et al., Reference Alrahili, Alghamdi, Alqasem, Alhallafi, AlFarraj, Alghanem and Alshalan2024; Garcia et al., Reference Garcia, Mikhail, Keel, Burt, Neale, Boker and Klump2020; Sandler et al., Reference Sandler, Al-Musfir, Barry, Duggal, Kindelan, Kindelan, Littlewood and Nazzal2021). As such, depressive symptomatology may account for a substantial proportion of variance in ED outcomes, thereby attenuating the unique contribution of beliefs about losing control. Second, it is possible that the current version of the BALCI-II does not adequately capture the specific control-related cognitions most relevant to EDs. The original Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory (BALCI) was developed to assess negative beliefs about losing control in the context of OCD (Radomsky and Gagné, Reference Radomsky and Gagné2020) and was subsequently revised to enhance its applicability across anxiety disorders (Kelly-Turner and Radomsky, Reference Kelly-Turner and Radomsky2022). Although EDs share certain cognitive and behavioural features with OCD and anxiety disorders – such as elevated co-morbidity rates and overlapping cognitive-behavioural maintenance processes (Kaye et al., Reference Kaye, Bulik, Thornton, Barbarich and Masters2004; Shafran et al., Reference Shafran, Cooper and Fairburn2002; von Wietersheim, Reference von Wietersheim, Herpertz, de Zwaan and de Zipfel2024) – they remain distinct diagnoses that may be influenced by disorder-specific belief systems and fears.
In accordance with these findings, future research may benefit from examining the specific feared outcomes associated with loss of control that are most salient in EDs, particularly with respect to feared consequences related to DB and MA, given that neither emerged as a significant individual predictor of ED symptoms. For example, the DB of the BALCI-II largely emphasizes fears that loss of control will result in harm to others (e.g., "I may lose control of myself and injure someone"). In contrast, individuals with EDs are more likely to fear losing control over eating or restrictive behaviours, which are perceived as dangerous primarily because of their anticipated consequences for body weight, shape, and self-evaluation (Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Cooper and Shafran2003; Grilo et al., Reference Grilo, Crosby, Masheb, White, Peterson, Wonderlich, Engel, Crow and Mitchell2009). Similarly, fears of losing control resulting in MA may be more relevant insofar as they are perceived to precipitate overeating or loss of dietary restraint, rather than fears of ‘going crazy’ as emphasized in the BALCI-II (e.g., "Having a bad thought puts me at risk of going crazy"). In sum, measures that more directly assess these disorder-specific concerns may yield stronger associations with ED symptomatology and improve the precision of cognitive models in this population. Future research would also benefit from identifying the specific behaviours or outcomes that individuals with EDs fear as a consequence of losing control. Qualitative studies with clinical populations could provide important insight into the nature and relevance of these feared consequences, which likely differ from those observed in OCD and anxiety-related conditions.
Nonetheless, as hypothesized, the BALCI-II emerged as a statistically significant individual predictor of ED symptoms, which is consistent with widely used transdiagnostic model of EDs (Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Cooper and Shafran2003; Fairburn, Reference Fairburn2008) which posits that control over weight and shape is central to self-evaluation, and that any perceived threat to this control (e.g., eating more than intended, weight fluctuations, etc.) becomes highly distressing and drives the persistence of eating disorder behaviours. Qualitative accounts indicate that individuals with AN and BN often fear that eating or weight gain will lead to a broader sense of losing control (e.g., “I am afraid that if I can’t control my eating, I can’t control anything else in my life”; “I am afraid I will lose control if I eat high-calorie foods") (Levinson et al., Reference Levinson, Brosof, Ram, Pruitt, Russell and Lenze2019; Melles & Jansen, Reference Melles and Jansen2023; Ralph-Nearman et al., Reference Ralph-Nearman, Hooper, Hunt and Levinson2024). However, these loss-of-control constructs have yet to be examined quantitatively using an empirically validated measure of beliefs and fears of losing control. Taken together with the present findings, this may indicate that individuals who hold stronger beliefs about their vulnerability to losing control may be more likely to appraise their eating behaviour in this manner. From a clinical perspective, it may therefore be beneficial to target beliefs about losing control and the associated feared outcomes. Relatedly, it has been hypothesized that ‘losing control’ may not truly occur, given that one’s behaviour is always enacted in accordance with one’s thoughts and motivations at a given moment, and that individuals have limited control over many thoughts and emotions to begin with (Radomsky, Reference Radomsky2022). Instead, it has been found that individuals retrospectively appraise aversive situations as instances of losing control, but on further questioning they come to disagree that they did in fact lose control over their thoughts, emotions, and/or behaviours (Fridgen & Radomsky, Reference Fridgen and Radomsky2025). Applying this perspective, challenging individuals’ interpretations of binge-eating episodes as losses of control may help to increase their sense of agency over eating behaviours and reduce perceived inability to control these episodes. Moreover, it may be helpful for clinicians to provide psychoeducation about weight fluctuations and hunger signals that arise from a range of factors (e.g. dietary restriction, hormonal changes, and growth-related processes) rather than reflecting something that is ‘out of control’ or fully within one’s control to begin with. If individuals come to believe that they cannot lose control over their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, they may be less likely to engage in restrictive or purging behaviours aimed at preventing or compensating for a perceived loss of control. It may therefore be fruitful to examine the causal impact of beliefs about losing control with experimental methodology.
The finding that the OE subscale emerged as a significant predictor in the final model and demonstrated positive bivariate correlations aligns with previous research emphasizing emotion regulation difficulties and perceived negative consequences of emotional experiences in cognitive-behavioural models of EDs (Burton & Abbott, Reference Burton and Abbott2019; Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Cooper and Shafran2003; Fairburn, Reference Fairburn2008). In particular, binge eating has been conceptualized as a strategy for regulating negative affect, given that such episodes are often engaged in to neutralize or distract from distressing emotions (Dingemans et al., Reference Dingemans, Danner and Parks2017). The present results provide preliminary evidence that beliefs about losing control may contribute to difficulties in emotion regulation, insofar as individuals with ED symptoms may fear losing control over their emotions and associate this loss with severe negative consequences (e.g. becoming overwhelmed, losing control of one’s life, or engaging in dysregulated eating behaviours). These processes may, in turn, perpetuate binge eating and related symptoms. Although binge eating occurs across ED presentations, it is a diagnostic criterion of BN and BED. The current study did not examine diagnostic differences, which represents an important limitation. Future research should therefore investigate whether the relevance of loss-of-control beliefs differs across ED subtypes in the etiology and maintenance of symptoms.
This, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first study to quantitively examine the associations between negative beliefs about losing control as a cognitive maintenance factor in ED. Although future research is certainly warranted, it could be that these beliefs play a unique role in fueling and/or maintaining the appraisals and perceptions of a lack and desire for maintaining control over one’s shape and weight (Fairburn, Reference Fairburn2008; Fairburn et al., Reference Fairburn, Cooper and Shafran2003). Nonetheless, it is important to acknowledge that the BALCI-II did not predict ED symptoms to a degree that strongly supports all hypotheses. The pattern of results suggests that while the BALCI-II captures elements relevant to EDs, it may require adaptation to better reflect the specific content of control-related beliefs in this population and that perhaps other psychological constructs are more relevant to their maintenance. Thus, it may be useful for future research to compare the predictive utility of negative beliefs about losing control with other control-related constructs that have been found to be associated with ED symptoms (e.g., helplessness, perfectionism, and self-control) (Froreich et al., Reference Froreich, Vartanian, Grisham and Touyz2016). Doing so would help to clarify whether negative beliefs about losing control represent a distinct and clinically meaningful cognitive maintenance factor for EDs and whether they could serve as a valuable treatment target in cognitive-behavioural interventions.
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, A.R., upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgements
None.
Author contributions
Cailyn P.E.A. Fridgen: Conceptualization (lead), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (lead), Investigation (lead), Methodology (lead), Project administration (lead), Supervision (lead), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (lead); Kaitlyn Zozula: Conceptualization (supporting), Data curation (supporting), Formal analysis (supporting), Investigation (supporting), Project administration (supporting), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (equal); Adam Radomsky: Conceptualization (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting).
Financial support
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests
The authors declare none.
Ethical standards
Ethics approval was granted for this study from Human Research Ethics Committee (certification number: 30018889).
Open access
Comments
No Comments have been published for this article.