Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Biological Explanations of
AN - Neural + Evolutionary
Explanations
- Neural Explanations
- Serotonin System
- Neurotransmitter involved in feeding
beh/ part of neurotransmitter system
of hypothalamus
- Personality traits
(obsessionality,
perfectionism + anxiety)
all related to AN
- Kaye (2005) - AN -
reduction serotonin in
brain
- Kaye et al (2005) - PET scans - reduction in serotonin. Also
in recovered so not due to weight loss.
- Cause + Effect - not prospective. Weight loss could have
long term effect on underlying physiology
- SSRIs - alter serotonin - ineffective AN
- Dopamine System
- Over activity in dop/
receptors in Basal Ganglia
- Inc/ dop/ = alter way people
perceive pleasure/reward
- AN - difficult to ass/ good
feelings w/ things ppl find
pleasurable (food)
- Castro-Forneiles et al
(2006) - adolescent
AN girls -
Homovanillic Acid
(waste product dop/) /
control group. Weight
gain = normal levels
- Evolutionary Explanations
- Benefit of AN passes through
generations i.e. adaptive ancestors
survival
- "Adapted to Flee Famine Hypothesis"
(AFFH)
- Guisinger (2003) - Hunter
gatherer - move on regularly -
food supplies exhausted. AN -
more active, deny hunger.
Adaptive when survival
depended on migration in
response to famine in local
area
- Does not explain men
- Does account for symptoms
(denial hunger, inc/ activity)
- "Reproduction Suppression Hypothesis"
- Surbey (1987) - Ancestral girls delayed
onset sexual maturation if low probability
of offspring surviving. Avoid birth when
little chance offspring survive
- Obs/ - onset
menstruation
delayed in AN -
Amenorrhea typical
characteristic
- Speculative - Impossible to test ,
scientific experimentation. Rely on
obs/s modern beh/ - theory lacks
direct support
- Deterministic - Humans
passive responders to our
past + no choice. Fails to
acknowledge cultural factors
- General Ev/ for all
approaches - Interaction
- bio/ + environmental
factors interact in
development of EDs -
genetic predisposition
linked w/ neural
mechanisms inherited
but need environmental
factors e.g. neg/ fam/
dynamics. Successful
treatment = combination