…..a mental condition…..
Anorexia shrinks the brain more than any other mental health condition
Findings are ‘wake-up call’ to intervene sooner to help people with the eating disorder and prevent further damage, say neuroscientists
….then are there any other body dysmorphias we should be treating as such?
I thought that this had been established many years ago. I know girls who have suffered from it and they have mo logical explanation for it. Some “grow out” of it but for many the obsession remains. It affects thei ability to concentrate hold down jobs and relationships.
Yeah. Starvation is bad for you.
Of course, as you point out Tim, chopping off bits and pieces and stitching them on somewhere else isn’t too good for you either.
So anorexia shrinks the brain more than does gender dysphoria but if I’ve got it right both conditions should result in weight loss.
I knew a therapist who practised in LA. She said anorexics were the worst to deal with because they didn’t accept they were I’ll and watching them waste away was depressing.
Yesterday on Radio 4’s The Life Scientific, they interviewed an anorexia doctor. She concurs with BiND’s comment: the patient may weigh 30kg but still be in denial.
@TMB,
Depends on which way you are going.
Has anorexia always existed or is it a last-few-decades thing?
Whatever, it’s horrible.
dearieme
I think that it was one of those “hidden away” conditions for a long time, But also self-starvation in the past without antibiotics would have had a quicker and more fatal result.
I first heard of it in the 1970s on TV progs like Nationwide or some Janet Street Porter show, but I am told that it was known of but undiagnosed as an illness in the 60s.
As I have posted before:
12 year old girl, who is obviously grossly under-weight, goes into Doctors surgery and says ‘I feel obese and need help to lose weight’.
Doctor says, ‘my professional opinion is that you need some psychiatric counselling’.
12 year old girl goes into Doctors surgery and says ‘I’m a boy in a girls body’.
Doctor says, ‘My professional opinion is that we start you on puberty blockers then begin cutting bits off your body. Because we can……..’.
Thanks, Otto. I wonder whether it ever occurred in medieval nunneries. Would skeletons show evidence?
dearieme.
According to wiki, St Catherine of Siena died on 29 April 1380, exhausted by her rigorous fasting.
As Bogan mentions, in past times it would have been seen as or attributed to religious passion, and sometimes even encouraged.
What is the success rate of psychiatry for either condition?
Compared to: ridicule; ignoring it; saying “There, there, you’ll grow out of it”.
Technically, anorexia has a more direct effect on brain size, due to the effects of malnourishment.
That said, having a master’s in mental health counseling, I can say yes, gender dysphoria treated with hormone therapy and reassignment surgery will alter at least some of the body’s processes, including regulation of things like hunger and brain development. It is said at least one type of puberty blocker, Lupron, is also used to chemically castrate sex offenders. That alone tells you there are biological consequences for going through such a transition, especially for minors who have not yet developed physically or sexually.
Doesn’t take much to imagine the effect on mental health as a result.
As far as anorexia, two interesting things to note:
In the case of Karen Carpenter, she didn’t so much die from the anorexia as she did from trying to recover. From what I recall, she started eating again in the hospital, but her heart couldn’t keep up. I personally went through a period of time where I had very little appetite, lost 20 lbs in less than two months. What I didn’t realize at first was that starting to eat normal-sized meals again was another ordeal in itself, as I was experiencing gastrointestinal issues such as acid reflux and…well, you know the other stuff.
There’s an American conservative commentator, Candace Owens, who detailed her experience with anorexia. Not caused by body image issues, but instead by a need for control in her life. Very insightful lesson in how human minds, particularly female minds, tend to work. Not all mental health conditions are straight from the textbook:
https://youtu.be/-B02c3ZYsCQ?t=448
adofjadiofj
Like many such problems, the patient doesn’t always die of the disease. They are so weak that they succumb to something else. The two celebrity stories that make me really sad are Karen Carpenter and Lena Zavaroni. As you mention Karen died of a weak heart and Lena caught pneumonia. Both massive wastes of talent.