Eating disorders

Question 1

What is pica?

Answer 1

Pica is a eating disorder where the person has a normal BMI but they eat strange unfood items, lasting at least a month. There are subtypes for the specific things they eat

Question 2

How many categories of eating disorders are in the DSM5?

Answer 2

10

Question 3

Eating disorders are generally a ….. and lead to …..

Answer 3

control of eating

malnutrition

Question 4

Give 3 eating disorders

Answer 4

• pica
• anorexia nervosa
• bulimia

Question 5

What are the major issues with anorexia nervosa?

Answer 5

	reduced food intake
	‘fear of becoming fat’ and refusal to maintain minimal weight
	no lack of appetite
	preoccupation with food
	intense fear of obesity
	high mortality rate (suicide)

Question 6

What are the medical complications with anorexia nervosa?

Answer 6

	cold to touch/bluish skin colour
	poor temperature regulation
	low BP/feel weak, dizzy
	heart arrhythmia – hypokalemia
	electrolyte imbalance/kidney damage
	Vitamin (B1) deficiency/depression
	hair thinning/brittle skin
	downy hair growth on body
	BMI lower than average

Question 7

5 personality traits typical of anorexics

Answer 7

• High anxiety
• High negative emotion
• Perfectionism
• Inflexibility
• Obsessive behaviour

Question 8

Major issues with bulimia nervosa

Answer 8

	loss of control of food intake
	‘fear of becoming fat’
	binges/gorging
	purging/exercise
	concern with body shape
	at least twice a week for 3 months

Question 9

Medical complications with bulimia nervosa

Answer 9

	BMI higher than average
	electrolyte imbalance/kidney damage
	Vitamin (B1) deficiency/depression
	heart arrhythmia – hypokalemia
	heart muscle damage
	throat/mouth damage
	dental damage
	mouth ulcers
	swollen glands

Question 10

What is amenorrhea?

Answer 10

Period dissapearing in young women

Question 11

Does bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa generally have a older onset age?

Answer 11

Bulimia generally has a later onset age

Question 12

A study into body morphing

Answer 12

Tovee et al 2003
anorexia and bulimia patients overestimate the size of their bodies and anorexic patients have a lower ideal BMI and lower actual BMI

Question 13

Research into western influence of media on eating disorder prevalence

Answer 13

Becker et al 2002 found that as the number TVs increase on an island then there is an increase in eating disorder prevalence

Question 14

Aetiology of eating disorders?

Answer 14

• biological
• sociocultural factors (peer and media influence)
• family influence
• individual drives (idealising body types)

Question 15

Biological causes of eating disorders

Answer 15

• bulimia as an imbalance of serotonin
• Anorexia patients have abnormal serotonin and dopamine levels
• less activation of insula in anorexics
• oestrogen changes in puberty

Question 16

What is the treatment for anorexia?

Answer 16

• family therapy
• force feeding
• CBT
• SSRIs possible but unreliable

Question 17

Why is treatment for anorexia so hard?

Answer 17

They don’t tend to see they have a problem so it is hard to get them to an actual clinic.
The result of treatment will be weight gain and this gain can be triggering

Question 18

What is the treatment for bulimia?

Answer 18

CBT and possibly SSRIs to decrease binge frequency and the disturbed thinking

Question 19

What is the diathesis stress model?

Answer 19

This model argues that in order for a disorder to be expressed then both a predisposition and an environmental stress must be present

Question 20

What is a diathesis?

Answer 20

Congenital susceptibility. A predisposing factor that doesn’t have to be biological.

Question 21

Discuss strength of diathesis and the stressor

Answer 21

If one of these factors is large then the other one doesn’t need to be as big it is all about the summation of the two.

Question 22

Describe the bioligcal approach to mental disorders

Answer 22

Pure medical or phyciological cause to a mental disorder, the mental disorer is a psychical disease. Possibly can be a redult of prenatal factors

Question 23

Biological treatments

Answer 23

• pharmacology- antipyschotics, antdepressants, antianxiety, mood stabislisers
• Neurosurgery, deep brain stimulation with elctrodes
• Gene therapy
• electroconvulsive therapy ECT

Question 24

Pros and cons of the biological approach

Answer 24

PROS
-evidence of herdity
- definite treatment
CONS
- not 100% concordance 
- many disorders have no clear cause

Question 25

Describe the psychoanalytical approach

Answer 25

- Freud - Idea we need to pass through stages in development and get correct gratification. - Unresolved childhood trauma - Unconscious mind - resistance to say true feelings - transference (projecting feelings brought up onto therapist) - counter transference where therapist projects onto patient - warring factions of the mind; ID, ego, superego. When war is too severe the defence mechanisms don’t work resulting in disorder

Question 26

Pyschoanalytic treatments

Answer 26

- Psychanalysis - Therapy - dream interpretation - free association

Question 27

Pros of psychoanalytical approach

Answer 27

- Idea of developmental issues – distal events | - Latent effects in childhood, showing in adulthood as a predisposition

Question 28

Cons of the psychoanalytical approach

Answer 28

- Doe not consider current issues - not scientifically grounded - draws on past a lot which may be traumatic - expensive for treatment - high effort treatment - therapists have a way to explain their failures because of the patients

Question 29

Describe the behaviourist approach to abnomality

Answer 29

Maladaptive behaviour is learnt and determined by the envionment. Failure to learn normal adaptibe behaviours

Question 30

Behaviourist treatment

Answer 30

- Behavioural therapy - systematic Desensitisation - modelling - motivation/ rewarding behaviours(token economy) - aversion therapy - flooding - Modifying behaviour

Question 31

Pros and Cons of behaviourism

Answer 31

``` PROS -highlights role of learning CONS -implies pure environmental causes -little evidence of conditioning ```

Question 32

Describe cognitive approach

Answer 32

- Information processes like attention, memory, planning - Internal reinforcement - schema and self schema, typically distorted and wrong

Question 33

Cognitive treatment

Answer 33

CBT to fix distorted thought processes

Question 34

pros and cons of cognitive approach

Answer 34

``` PROS -step up from behaviourism - highlights mental processes - makes sense that distorted thoughts lead to illness CONS -heavy influence of environment ```