Psychological explanations of Anorexia cont.

Today we finished off the sociocultural explanations (ppt here) with a look at Keels & Klump (2003); a big study into whether or not AN is culture-bound (and therefore essentially nurture and not nature). It is a fascinating study and the link to the original article is here - we just read the abstract. K&K found that AN isn't culturally bound and that there are many historical examples. Interestingly, Bulimia does seem to be culturally bound.

We then looked at a few psychodynamic explanations of AN. These are high in face validity but difficult to prove experimentally. The therapy that results from them has been very successful, however, so they are definitely of value. The ppt is here. 

The real reason for why someone ends up suffering from AN is likely to be a complex mix of genetic predisposition (possibly affecting neurotransmitter levels), possibly some cultural influences although these are by no means necessary, and possibly some disordered family background.

Happy Christmas!

Psychological explanations of anorexia

Today we did the timed essay in the first lesson - Sarah, Heaven, Francesca & Jack C-J please get this done in your own time and hand it in to me (30 mins without books or notes).

We started to look at sociocultural explanations of anorexia, as part of the psychological explanations. If AN is a purely biological disorder, then we would expect to see cases throughout history and across different cultures. This is largely, but not wholly, what we do see. The real picture is that it is a complicated mix of nature and nurture - media pictures of thinness probably aren't enough on their own to cause AN, but some people do seem more susceptible to them than others.

Today's ppt is here (we will finish it tomorrow morning). Tomorrow we will study psychodynamic explanations of AN.

TIMED ESSAY

I've rearranged things slightly to account for the low attendance seen today..........Here is the plan for next week:

Tuesday 16th  P1 - TIMED ESSAY - SEE BELOW
Tuesday P2 - Psychological explanations for AN - Sociocultural explanations
Wednesday 17th  P3 - Psychological explanations for AN - Psychodynamic explanations
Wednesday P4 - some festive quiz or similar

TIMED ESSAY: ' Discuss explanations of one eating disorder (8+16)'. No books or notes. No excuses.

Today we spruced up the back wall of R23 so no new content.

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Neural explanations of AN

Today we evaluated the genetic explanations of AN - we used the ladders tool, which is just a way of structuring evaluative material to gain the most AO2 marks.

We also studied a neural explanation - that too little serotonin is the cause of Anorexia. We evaluated this. Today's ppt is here.

Biological theories for Anorexia Nervosa

Today we evaluated the AFFH (adapted to flee famine hypothesis) that we discussed yesterday. there is plenty of AO2 evaluative material here so do make sure you evaluate fully. Lots of the criticisms that we discussed when we looked at evolutionary explanations for eating behaviour are relevant here also. The powerpoint on AFFH is here.

We also briefly dicussed genetic explanations. Concordance rates are around 55% for MZ twins, showing a genetic influence, but there must be other factors involved. The ppt is here.

Anorexia Nervosa

Today we started to look at Anorexia Nervosa (AN). We defined the clinical characteristics (symptoms) in DSM-IV, and then performed a content analysis on some first-hand experiences of eating disorders. The first powerpoint is here.

We then started to look at biological explanations for AN, and looked at the evolutionary explanation, proposed by Guisinger (2003). This is very interesting and fairly contentious. The ppt is here, and we will continue this tomorrow.

Here is the NHS site which contains loads of helpful information; the videos we watched in class came from here.

Here is the BEAT website, which provides helplines, online support and a network of self-help groups, plus masses of useful information. This is the best place to look for support online if you or a friend are suffering from an eating disorder.