cognitive distrotion of anorexia Flashcards
what are cognitive distortion in anorexics
are errors in thinking that causes the individual to develop a negative body image
An sufferers have a distorted perception of their body
what did murphy et al suggest and how does this make anorexics see themselves
other clinical features of anorexia are related to body distortions
People are more critical of their own body
They see themselves as overweight, so eat less leading to anorexia
what is cognitive bias in anorexics
They have selective attention towards food related words as they find it threatening as those particular items can cause them to gain weight
And they want to avoid such foods
irrational belives in anorexics
Individuals have irrational beliefs that they think negatively about themselves and the world around them
They dont like themselves because they are overweight and they believe that nobody will like them because they are overweight
what are these irrational beliefs based on and what does it lead to
These irrational beliefs are not based on facts and are unrealistic
These lead to negative automatic thoughts which leads to anxiety and may further worsen the anorexia
how does perfectionism affect anorexics
The anorexic strive to meet the most demanding standards at all times
They feel like they are not good enough
Apply standards to eating and weight loss and body image
what if they dont meet those standards
Failure to meet their own high standard is judged , which leads to stricter restriction, leading to weight loss and anorexia
what is cognitive inflexibility in anorexics
hose with cognitive inflexibility are vulnerable to anorexia
They carry on practise like weight loss even though there is no need to do the activity
They cannot adapt their thinking based on what they observe
One strength is that there is support from stroop test studies
Ben tovim used a version of the stroop test and discovered that compared to normal patients those with an found it harder to color name the food related words
what does this suggest
Suggesting a selective preoccupation to those stimuli and words
Psychological explanations predict that an individual’s attention will be biased towards stimuli of food
As they find these kind of words threatening as it can make them gain weight
Thus they are more sensitive to perceive it
Another strength is that there is support for cbte in those with anorexia
Cbte has shown positive results
Study by fairburn found that comparing cbte vs interpersonal therapy which contains no cognitive element
what were the results of the comparison
130 patients with an eating disorder were randomly assigned to a therapy
After 20 weeks of treatment ⅔ of cbte were in remission compared to ⅓
These finding demonstrate that cbte is effective
what does this suggest
This may be due to the cognitive element targeting the irrational beliefs and the body distortion
This supports the conclusion that these cognitive errors play a role in developing anorexia
Therefore increasing the validity of the conclusions
A weakness is that there is contradictory research
Cornessilsen et al compared an patients with non a patients on a body morphing task
They were asked to adjust a computerised body to match their body size
what did they find
no significant difference when they were asked to morph their body size with the an compared to the non anorexics
