Many of us are lucky enough to live in a world where food is easily accessible. We no longer have to hunt wild animals or scrounge for edible plants to survive. However, in spite of (or likely because of) this luxury, millions of people suffer from eating disorders. Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder are three of the most common problems - and they are often misunderstood. Join Alie Astrocyte as she dispels myths and explores the neuroscience behind these disorders.
Resources to get help for eating disorders:
http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/find-help-support
http://www.eatingdisordersanonymous.org/
http://www.edreferral.com/support_groups_for_eating_disorders.htm
Sources:
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/eating.aspx
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3410050/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/health/26anorexia.html?_r=2&ref=global-home
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/10/neuroscience-of-anorexia.html
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v18/n11/full/nn.4136.html
http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/brain_imaging_studies_reveal_neurobiology_of_eating_disorders
http://eatingdisorders.ucsd.edu/research/biocorrelates/PDFs/Kaye2010NeurobiologyofAN.pdf
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Could it be possible to treat people with AN with help of anti-anxiety medications? After reading through the Is Anorexia Nervosa an Eating Disorder that you have linked above I got a feeling that it's very similar to (at least in my understanding) to OCD. Is this a correct assumption or am I biased by some superficial similarities?
I have a feeling from the 15 videos the OP has posted and the 0 comments that this might be a bot or at least someone who doesn't interact here. You've asked some great questions to the videos that have been posted to this account. It would have been nice if you got some answers. The videos are a great starting point for discussion but maybe a bit technical for the average person to answer. I'm not in the field, but from my understanding talking with people who have/had eating disorders, it's closely related to anxiety and many of them do take anti-anxiety medication. OCD is often considered a subset of anxiety, but the suggested medications can differ.
Eating disorders are also often comorbid with/manifest after sexual assault/abuse. Here is a random link, but this was something I actually learned in college in either a WOMS or PSYCH class, I forget which. Personally, i think that comparing anorexia or other body dysmorphia/eating disorders to an OCD may be a little simplistic. Studies have shown, for instance, that anorexics actually perceive their body as bigger than it really is (by studying their movement; anorexics will feel there is not enough room in a narrow corridor or passage for them to fit through, even though there physically is) - example article. 2 It seems an actual problem with incorrect perception as well as an obsession or compulsion. There is also an idea that anorexia and eating disorders may be influenced by/perhaps caused by a disruption in the gut flora and it's been hypothesized that fecal transplants may help alleviate the disorders...However this is very much a "bad feces could cause the disorder or the disorder could cause the disrupted feces" Here is the link to the reddit thread but it appears the original article has been taken down
Here is the working link to article. Thanks! I'll return with some questions after doing some research on my own with yours and neurotransmissions' sources.
Sure! I watched the video and don't think it's really totally off-base in any way, but I do feel it's unhelpfully reductive. Knowing, for instance, there's often a link between abuse/trauma and development of an eating disorders makes suggestions like "EDs should be treated like addictions, not something 'to get over' " seem somewhat palliative and simplistic. EDs should be treated by psychiatrists or trained mental health professionals - anyone telling someone to 'get over' a mental disorder or simply 'stop feeling that way' is not going to help whatsoever, no matter what the disorder is.
Well, it could be the case of both approaches being not just valid but complementary. For example: persistent elevated levels of (nor)adrenaline or cortisol (both being hormones related to stress and trauma) caused by abuse could result in a neurological change. For what I know there could be a wide spectrum of causes, but as someone more apt with reading metabolic chains than facial expressions I can digest the chemical part much more swiftly and easily than by relation to personality problem on an emphatic level. As of the not telling people to 'get over' part, this is what I got from video. If there is a response from limbic (?) system, telling someone is not going to do anything good. That's like scolding kid with Tourette's and expecting improvement; failure to understand and address the issue from what I gather. Either way, I do appreciate your comment and information it provided me (and others) with to get some better understanding of it. :)
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. :)
Heyo! Wow, all of a sudden there are comments on this. Sorry, I didn't have notifications set up so I didn't see this earlier. In any case, definitely not a bot. Just the friendly folks from NT posting and hoping to start great conversations like this. In terms of treatment, you are correct that there is a connection between OCD and eating disorders for some individuals. It is not necessary for the disorder to exist, but there is high comorbidity. Thanks for stepping in! :)
Well, on the other hand there were people like 6d6rpg who were not really aware of how Hubski operates or even if anyone would want to hear them. Even if it's the case of using this place as advertisement vector, I prefer to keep on the inviting side. If that's a bot, we are at least not getting a Pfizer & Sons ltd "Professional lawyer and generic Viagra dealership" spam :P. As of your remark, I've spent some time reading-up about it in the meantime and it largely seems to check out. It still leaves some questions, like this one: would there be any changes/indicators on fMRI done on a person with eating disorder under medication?