AQA A2 Psychology Unit 3 Eating Behaviour: Psychological Explanations Of One Eating Disorder - Anorexia Nervosa Notes
- Created by: TheNainoJi
- Created on: 16-07-13 00:38
Fullscreen
A2 Psychology Unit 3 Eating Behaviour: Psychological Explanations Of One Eating Disorder - Anorexia Nervosa Notes
What You Need To Know:
- Psychological Explanations Of One Eating Disorder - Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa:
What is it?
- Refusal to maintain minimum normal weight and fear of weight gain.
- Deliberate weight-loss and a weight of 15% or more below normal.
- Disturbance in perception of own body shape, leading to an insistence that the person is overweight.
- It is often co-morbid with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and/or depression.
- There are two kinds: `restricted` type - associated with self-starvation, but not purging; and `binge-eating/purging` type.
- There are many medical side effects, with about 5% dying of the disorder.
Psychological Explanations Of Anorexia Nervosa:
Experiential factors
- Trauma, abuse, bullying, teasing about appearance, and bereavement are linked to eating disorder development.
Research
- Rastam and Gillberg (1991) found that 14% of anorexics had experienced a negative life event in the three months prior to the disorder onset whereas none of the controls had.
- Other research supports this, but such research is correlational and retrospective so hard to interpret.
- Childhood sexual abuse is a risk factor, but not every abused child grows to develop an eating disorder, nor is it clear why there should be a link.
Research
- Casper and Lyubomirsky (1997) suggest that adverse early experiences lead to other psychopathologies underlying eating disorders.
- Polivy and Herman (2002) suggested that where a person feels their life is `out of control` in some way, controlling themselves and their body and weight provides them with a sense of control. Individuals therefore derive emotional gratification from anorexia.
Cognitive factors
- Anorexia is associated with obsessive thoughts and rigid thinking patterns.
- Socio-cultural pressures can be converted into behaviours through cognitive processes.
- Once…
Comments
No comments have yet been made