We conclude with suggestions for future research, and discuss IU as a potential treatment target for core features of EDs and comorbid symptoms.Īnxiety Cognitive rigidity Eating disorders Intolerance of Uncertainty Ritualised behaviour.Ĭopyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia nervosa, are characterised by abnormal eating behaviour and typical psychopathological features, including fear. Extending from the obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorder literature, we propose that IU provides a novel theoretical and clinical framework from which to understand the anxiety, fixation with rules and rituals, and the cognitively rigid profile that is characteristic of ED presentations.

The current review summarises the growing literature examining IU in relation to ED symptoms, including restriction, bingeing, purging, ritualised behaviours, reassurance-seeking and body checking. thinness as a mark of beauty and a contradictory fear of becoming beautiful. There is substantial evidence that IU is a transdiagnostic process that contributes to the maintenance of anxiety disorders however, IU may also be relevant to the understanding and treatment of EDs. an extreme considered pathological, sometimes associated with laxative abuse. Pathological fears, or phobias, are fears in which a person recognizes a threatening object and becomes extremely terrified. The cause of this fear may be from danger that is real or perceived. Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is defined as a tendency to react negatively on an emotional, cognitive, and behavioural level to uncertain situations and events. Numbing and persistent fear that one experiences at all times. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a persistent restriction on food intake, an intense fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat, and a distorted.

Yet the cognitive processes underlying anxiety, fear, and anxiety-driven behaviours in EDs remain poorly understood.

To manage anxiety, patients develop complicated repertoires of ritualistic and repetitive behaviours, which can lead to total functional impairment. Pathological fear and anxiety regarding food, eating, weight and body shape are at the core of eating disorder (ED) psychopathology.

Pathological fear of food