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. 2025 May;33(3):490-502.
doi: 10.1002/erv.3160. Epub 2024 Nov 28.

Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive, and Depressive Symptom Presentation and Change Throughout Routine Eating Disorder Treatment

Mina Velimirović  1   2 , Morgan Robison  2 , Sophie Abber  2 , Alan Duffy  3 , Renee D Rienecke  3   4 , Jamie Manwaring  3   5   6 , Dan V Blalock  7   8 , Megan Riddle  5   9 , Philip S Mehler  3   5   6 , Thomas E Joiner  2
Affiliations

Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive, and Depressive Symptom Presentation and Change Throughout Routine Eating Disorder Treatment

Mina Velimirović et al. Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2025 May.

Abstract

Objective: The present study examined whether patients with binge/purge and restricting anorexia nervosa (AN-BP and AN-R), bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating disorder (BED), avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), and other specified feeding and eating disorder (OSFED) differ in generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and depression symptom patterns and overall comorbid symptom severity at admission. We also assessed between-group differences in the patterns of change and overall comorbid symptom severity change from admission to discharge from routine eating disorder (ED) treatment at higher levels of care (HLOC).

Method: The initial sample included 3730 adults routinely assessed for GAD, depression, and OCD at admission and discharge from treatment.

Results and conclusions: ED diagnostic groups exhibited somewhat different symptom patterns (e.g., AN-R and ARFID were more prone to GAD and OCD than depression symptoms; BED exhibited the opposite pattern) and overall symptom severity at admission (i.e., AN-BP and OSFED had the highest overall comorbid symptom severity; BED had the lowest). Although the overall symptom improvement was significantly greater in ARFID and BED than in AN-BP, AN-R, and OSFED, ED patients collectively and within each diagnostic group improved significantly in GAD, OCD, and depression symptoms following routine ED treatment at HLOC.

Keywords: depression; eating disorders; generalised anxiety disorder; obsessive‐compulsive disorder; symptom improvement.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

Dr. Rienecke receives consulting fees from the Training Institute for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders, LLC, and receives royalties from Routledge. The authors have no other confiicts to declare.

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