Contents
A person suffering from anorexia does not just eat. The source of this problem is the need for self-destructive behavior – refusing food is the same “valve” for emotions as cutting the skin with a razor blade or pulling one’s hair out.
- In anorexia, the brain “panics” because it receives information about the malnutrition of the body in the form of signals sent by it – says Emilia Kot, a psychologist and nutritionist
- A group of Polish researchers decided to check what is happening in the malnourished brain of a person with anorexia
- Scientists are looking for people willing to take part in the study
- More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.
Self-destruction in anorexia
The subject of anorexia (anorexia nervosa) is becoming more and more popular in the media due to the growing number of cases of this mental disorder. Experts’ statements usually focus on its causes, symptoms or treatments. In recent years, however, experts have started to pay more and more attention to understanding anorexia from the perspective of emotional functioning, one of the aspects of which in this disorder is self-destruction.
Prof. Katarzyna Kucharska – a psychiatrist from the Institute of Psychology of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw who studies this subject under a grant from the National Science Center – explains that self-destruction consists in the use of particularly maladaptive methods of dealing with negative emotions. Such strategies include, among others dangerous behaviors located at opposite poles of the continuum: on the one hand, behavior disinhibition (e.g. self-mutilation, hitting, burning) – occurring in borderline personality disorder, and on the other – inhibiting behavior, i.e. its excessive control (e.g. limiting food consumption, suppressing emotional expression) ), which occurs in anorexia. As prof. Kucharska, a research project under her direction is aimed at, inter alia, assessment of the activity of the malnourished brain during emotional regulation in people with anorexia and – for comparison – in people with borderline personality disorder.
Malnutrition and structural and functional changes in the brain in anorexia
According to PhD student Emilia Kot, a psychologist and nutritionist, food restrictions not only lead to weight loss, but also to malnutrition of the body, including the brain, the volume of which may decrease. As a consequence, anxiety and depression symptoms as well as intrusive thoughts and behaviors intensify.
– These behaviors are centered around eating. These can be: obsessive counting of calories, weighing food products or meticulous planning of meals – explains the doctoral student and adds: – In anorexia, the brain “panics” because it receives information about malnutrition in the form of signals sent by it. Food content may also appear during sleep, indicating that the functioning of the malnourished brain is driven by the need to search for food.
Emilia Kot emphasizes that the thinking of a person suffering from anorexia is focused on looking for food in order to keep the body alive, with a very high motivation to restrict food and inhibition of food consumption, signaled from the prefrontal cortex. In new neurobiological models of anorexia, this conflict is portrayed as a source of anxiety leading to further restriction of food consumption.
– In terms of the structure of the brain, particular attention is paid to the change in the volume of the fronto-parietal areas and the cingulate gyrus, which are involved in the processing and integration of stimuli received from the body. In malnourished people, the left side of the periorbital cortex and the right islet are also enlarged. in the processing of taste information, which may affect the manifested eating behavior. Interestingly, these areas of the brain are also involved in the processing of emotions, and the emotional processes themselves can influence the regulation of food.
Scientific research
According to PhD student Piotr Grzegorzewski, a psychologist, the study involves three stages and can be attended by women diagnosed with anorexia. To register your participation, click “register” at the bottom of the page: https://psychosomatics.psychologia.wfch.uksw.edu.pl/register. More information about the study is available on this page, as well as in the podcast. For its completion, there is a fee of PLN 200 and a CD with a recording of the image of the examination of the brain structure and a description of its results.