Task 7 - Eating Disorders

Question 1

Caloric restriction

Definition

Answer 1

A dietary intervention in which individuals consume fewer calories than recommended in order to attain a longer, healthier life

Question 2

Mortality rate of Anorexia Nervosa

Answer 2

5-9%

Question 3

Anorexia nervosa

Definition

Answer 3

Severe eating disorder characterized by a distorted body image, extreme fear of gaining weight, significant restriction of food intake, and dangerously low body weight, often accompanied by excessive exercise and persistent behaviors aimed at controlling weight.

Question 4

DSM-5 Criteria for Anorexia Nervosa

Answer 4

A. Restriction of energy intake leading to significantly low body weight
B. Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat
C. Disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced

Question 5

Anorexia Subtypes

Answer 5

Restricting type: Involves strict food intake limitations and/or excessive exercise to avoid weight gain. Some might survive on minimal daily food intake, such as one cup of yogurt and a fat-free muffin
Binge-Eating/Purging type: People periodically engage in binge eating or purging behaviors, like self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives or diuretics. However, they remain substantially below a healthy body weight compared to those with bulimia nervosa, who are often at normal or slightly overweight

Question 6

Bulimia nervosa

Definition

Answer 6

An eating disorder that involves episodes of uncontrollable overeating, known as bingeing, followed by actions to prevent weight gain

Question 7

Binge

Definition

Answer 7

Consuming significantly more food in a discrete period than most people would eat under similar circumstances, accompanied by a sense of lack of control over eating

Question 8

DSM-5 Criteria for Bulimia Nervosa

Answer 8

A. Recurrent episodes of binge eating
B. Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors
C. Both happen on average at least once per week for 3 months
D. Self-evaluation greatly influenced by body and weight
E. Not better explainable by anorexia

Question 9

Severity range of Bulimia

Answer 9

Mild (1 to 3 episodes of compensatory behaviors per week) to extreme (14 or more episodes per week).

Question 10

Restraint theory

Of binge-eating disorder

Answer 10

Theory suggests that these restrained eaters may overeat or binge when they transgress their diet boundaries, leading to a cycle of restrained eating followed by overeating or binge eating

Question 11

Three Factor model

Of binge-eating disorder

Answer 11

Frequency of dieting and overeating:
* Emphasizes the role of repeated cycles of dieting and overeating in creating vulnerability to future overeating.
**Current dieting practices: **
* Impact of ongoing dieting efforts on eating behavior.
* Suggests that repeated unsuccessful dieting may lower one’s self-confidence in their ability to diet successfully, potentially contributing to overeating
Combination of factors
* Acknowledges that current eating behavior may be influenced by a combination of past dieting history and current dieting practices

Question 12

Binge-eating disorder

Definition

Answer 12

A mental health condition characterized by recurrent episodes of uncontrollable overeating, marked by consuming large amounts of food in a discrete period while feeling a lack of control, without regular compensatory behaviors like purging or excessive exercise

Question 13

DSM-5 Criteria for Binge-Eating Disorder

Answer 13

A. Recurrent episodes of bing eating
B. The binge eating episodes are associated with three or more of the following: Eating more repidly, feeling uncomfortably full, large amounts when not hungry, eating alone because embaressed, feeling disgusted with oneself
C. Distress over episodes
D. Occurs at least once a week for 3 months
E. No compensatory behaviors

Question 14

Genetic factors of Eating Disorders

Answer 14

• Female gender is a significant risk factor, with uncertainty regarding its biological vs. social basis.
• Eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder have complex genetic components (heritability ranges between 50% and 83%).

Question 15

Role of brain chemicals in Eating Disorders

Answer 15

• Brain chemicals like dopamine and opioids are altered in eating disorders, affecting food reward and addictive-like behaviors.
• Specific receptors in the brain (5HT2A, 5HT1A, DA2) show anomalies in anorexia nervosa, potentially linked to illness and recovery states.

Question 16

Milos et al.: Instability of eating disorder diagnosis

Answer 16

• Assessed at and at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 months
• Found that the overall stability of eating disorder diagnoses was low, with over half of the participants experiencing a change in diagnosis
• Most common change was from anorexia nervosa to bulimia nervosa or EDNOS.
• Study also found that remission rates were low, with only 31% of participants achieving remission at any point
• DNOS were underrepresented in comparison with their proportion in outpatient eating disorder clinics

Question 17

Stice et al.: Test of Dietary Restraint theory

Answer 17

• Maintenance diet intervention resulted in significantly greater decreases in bulimic symptoms and negative affect than observed in controls
• The study did not confirm the dietary restraint theory’s prediction that dieting results in increased negative affect

Question 18

Dietary restraint theory

Answer 18

A model that asserts that a reliance on cognitive control over eating rather than on physiological cues leaves dieters vulnerable to uncontrolled eating when these cognitive processes are disrupted

Question 19

Role of Brain Abnormalities in Eating Disorders

Answer 19

• Hypothalamus plays a crucial role in regulating eating behaviors by receiving signals about food consumption and nutrient levels.
• Messages regarding hunger cessation and eating initiation are carried by various neurotransmitters (like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine) and hormones (like cortisol and insulin).