EDs vs. Problematic Eating Behavior
Over the past two decades, the field of abnormal psychology has experienced a major change in how psychological dysfunction is conceptualized, with clear abandonment of dichotomous-categorical models (e.g., the traditional “disorders”) in favor of hierarchical-dimensional models focused on structural arrangements of relatively homogenous major traits and symptoms. Though dimensional models of psychopathology have certainly existed for much longer (e.g., Achenbach, 1966; Harkness, 1992; Meehl, 1992; Tellegen, 1985), recent developments reflect a true paradigm shift. Notable initiatives that have accelerated this shift include the NIMH RDoC program (Insel, 2014) and the more recent HiTOP project (e.g., Kotov et al., 2017; Krueger et al., 2018). It is possible that inconsistent findings in previous research, particularly research that focused on examining suicide risk within specific diagnostic groups of EDs, may be due to some of the limitations of the categorical model of diagnosis. This in conjunction with the support for moving to a hierarchical-dimensional model of diagnosis led to our decision to focus on dimensional measures of eating pathology, as well as specific problematic eating behaviors, instead of relying on diagnostic categories.