Clusters of Personality Disorder Cognitions in the Eating Disorders

This study examined whether comorbid personality disorder pathology in the eating disorders clusters into broader patterns, and whether those clusters have clinical validity in terms of levels of eating pathology and axis 1 comorbidity. The sample consisted of 214 eating‐disordered women who completed measures of personality disorder cognitions, eating pathology and axis 1 pathology at assessment. Three clusters of eating disorder patients emerged—low levels of personality pathology overall, high levels of cognitions underpinning anxiety‐based personality pathology, and high levels of all of the dimensions of personality pathology. These groups were validated by differences in levels of eating cognitions and axis 1 pathology. Personality disorder cognitions are clinically relevant to the eating disorders, but they might best be understood as broader sets of cognitions (‘anxiety‐centred’ and ‘general’), rather than in terms of individual personality disorder comorbidity or existing DSM personality disorder clusters. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.