Depression mediates the relationship between obsessive–compulsive symptoms and eating disorder symptoms in an inpatient sample

Although a significant association between eating disorder symptoms and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms has been consistently reported in the literature, there remains a paucity of studies aimed at better understanding processes that may account for this association. The present study employed structural equation modeling to examine the extent to which depression explains the relationship between eating disorder symptoms and OCD symptoms in an inpatient sample of individuals with eating disorders. A measurement model specifying significant associations between the three symptom domains provided a good fit to the data. Consistent with predictions, the present study found that the association between latent OCD symptoms and latent eating disorder symptoms was mediated by depression symptoms. Subsequent analysis also revealed structural invariance of the mediated effect between eating disorder patients with and without a comorbid OCD diagnosis. Implications of these findings for better understanding the phenomenological and functional relationship between eating disorders and OCD are discussed.

► Latent OCD symptoms significantly predict latent eating disorder symptoms. ► Latent OCD symptoms significantly predict latent depression symptoms. ► Latent depression symptoms significantly predict latent eating disorder symptoms. ► Latent epression symptoms mediate the relationship between latent OCD symptoms and latent eating disorder symptoms. ► Misery among OCD and eating disorder symptoms are structurally invariant among patients with and without comorbid OCD diagnosis.