Anorexia Prevalence
- Anorexia isn't primarily driven by social media or perfectionism. Its prevalence has remained relatively constant since the 1600s.
- This suggests a strong biological component to anorexia nervosa.
- Anorexia nervosa is extremely common, affecting 1-2% of women, with onset typically in adolescence but possible later in life.
Anorexia and Disrupted Processes
- Anorexia and bulimia are not a result of lacking knowledge about healthy choices but rather a disruption of homeostatic and reward processes, severely impairing decision-making.
- Individuals with anorexia may be fully aware that their behavior is harmful, even life-threatening, yet they are unable to change without clinical intervention because signals related to hunger aren't registering properly.
- Anorexics may exhibit exceptional decision-making skills regarding food and nutritional content, but their habits are disrupted, leading to dangerous food choices they may not consciously recognize.
- Effective treatment for anorexia often involves addressing and rebuilding healthy habits.
Rewarding Food Avoidance in Anorexia
- In anorexics, reward systems in the brain become associated with unhealthy habits, specifically avoiding certain foods and approaching low-calorie, low-fat foods.
- This results in an internal reward (dopamine release) for adhering to these restrictive eating patterns.
- This challenges the psychological theories which suggest anorexics are punishing themselves, instead revealing that they feel good due to the release of neuromodulators when avoiding particular foods.