Gender differences in eating disorder psychopathology across DSM-5 severity categories of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Objective: This study examined whether patterns of eating-disorder (ED) psychopathology differed by gender across DSM-5 severity specifiers in anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN).

Method: We tested whether ED psychopathology differed across DSM-5 severity specifiers among 532 adults (76% female) in a residential treatment center with AN or BN. We hypothesized that severity of ED psychopathology would increase in tandem with increasing severity classifications for both males and females with AN and BN.

Global/local processing style: Explaining the relationship between trait anxiety and binge eating.

Objective: Anxiety is a risk factor for disordered eating, but the mechanisms by which anxiety promotes disordered eating are poorly understood. One possibility is local versus global cognitive processing style, defined as a relative tendency to attend to details at the expense of the "big picture." Anxiety may narrow attention, in turn, enhancing local and/or compromising global processing.

Won't stop or can't stop? Food restriction as a habitual behavior among individuals with anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa.

Food restriction among individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) is regarded as a goal-directed behavior. However, Walsh (2013) theorized that, although restriction is initially maintained by operant conditioning (with successful weight loss and external praise as salient rewards), it ultimately becomes a classically conditioned habit, persisting regardless of the presence of these once-salient rewards. Understanding food restriction as a well-ingrained habit may provide insight into treatment resistance.