Anorexia visible with brain scans

[Dr Noodle]

Anorexia visible with brain scans

Sophisticated scans have revealed the eating disorder is linked to specific patterns of brain activity.

[Dr Noodle]

I always thought it was triggered by environmental factors but looks like I could be wrong. I starting going down that road when I was younger, eating only half a mars bar or a few liquorice toffees for several days in a row. I was a perfectionist though, anything less than 100% in exams used to piss me off big time etc. Thankfully my wise and mature friend dragged me out of it.

I'm not sure how the brain scans are going to help though it is interesting.

[persianmedic]

this is interesting and may lead to a better understanding of why the sufferers behave in such ways.
I have always struggled to understand why these women can go to such extreme messures to avoid food and lose weight. also what causes the self denial? could it be because of the gradual incremental changes in the brain activity that leads them to lose sensitivity to such issues? it's also very alarming that they deliberately choose to go against the natural intuition of survival and it's the failure to recognise their state of well being that puts such patients in severe ill health.
hopefully this may lead to production of more specific drugs which tackle specific areas of the brain by suppressing or promoting the secretion of certain hormones/ enzymes. (which I don't know anything about).

[persianmedic]

further I think that the current approach of institutionalization of the patients may be a good approach but it requires a long time of recovery (around 6mnths). i hope that the new drug treatments give us a more quick cure. keeping in mind that most the people undergoing treatment may need constant counselling and modifying behaviour sessions to re-teach them how to live normal lives. the support groups aren't bad either!

Medi

[Dr Noodle]

Smart posts Medi I didn't think of that.

[NorthernLight]

Of course, the £1 million question is which comes first - the behaviour or the brain activity?

[Dr Noodle]

Well according to the article it affects people who worry a lot so maybe that's what causes the brain patterns?

Just realised that was a stupid thing to say...doh!

[persianmedic]

Of course, the £1 million question is which comes first - the behaviour or the brain activity?

if the brain activity was first it would have suggested that the disorder had genetic factors associated with it. there has been no evidence of such so far. also the condition in more prevalent in the developed western countries and on the rise. thus I believe that the changes in behaviour come first. in other words deliberate actions initiate the problem which later on develops into regular habits.

thinking about it, the sufferers do not receive suffiecient nutrients for proper finctioning of the body's organs. the abnormal brain activities may also be as a result of insufficient neurotransmitters being released/produced.

Medi

[Dr.Funk]

There was a study of I think people who were very nervous (not sure which book this was in but I will try and check) which showed that those who were told that how they acted was down to their genetic makeup responded better to counselling. That may have some parallels with this research.

I think I saw OCD had been linked to certain patterns in brain scans too recently, possible hope there too?

[Dr Noodle]

What do they mean by brain patterns anyway? The amount of white matter v grey matter?