I feel like usually telling someone to "get over" something is a bad choice, even if it is not a mental disorder - what a dismissive response to a person! Talk about invalidating whatever they are feeling. There are indeed many, many potential factors or causes to these sorts of disorders. I do agree that neurological changes may present in those afflicted - I do not think we can determine whether the neurological changes caused the illness, or were caused by it. Just like with the fecal disturbances. I guess if you try to treat the physical imbalances, and the disorder still manifests, then you maybe could conclude that more needed to be done? Or if you tried to treat only psychological and that did not help, vice versa. I think we are in agreement that the best treatment approach probably combines both options.
This is great. Sorry to be late to the party. You are right that telling someone to "get over" something is not the appropriate response, yet this can often be what uninformed friends or family offer as advice. It's not isolated to EDs either - addictions, depression, anxiety, sleeping disorders, and most other mental health concerns can receive the same treatment. In terms of contributing factors, we want to make it clear that we are not implying in any way that individuals are born with bulimic, anorexic, or binge-eating tendencies (there is no decisive science to support this). However, to what you said, social pressure, abuse or trauma, and mental health issues like body dysmorphic disorder can initiate these behaviors. However, we were most interested in how these behaviors persist, particularly given how detrimental they can be to a person's health. However, on our channel, we cite existing, supported research. In this case, there is good research that indicates a change in brain patterns for individuals recovering from anorexia. This is not to discount the other environmental factors that also contributes to eating disorders. But the truth is that the neuroscience often does not get discussed with these disorders because they are so stigmatized. Our goal is to inform others that the brain is a vital key to coming up with new approaches to treatment. Anyway, this is an awesome discussion! Your thoughts? Sorry again for jumping in late. Thanks so much for watching the video. :)