Trisha Gura: Anorexia: Wired Like Asperger's? |
| Published: August 22, 2007, 11:50 pm |
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They do it because their brains are wired to. Girls with anorexia nervosa starve due to neural processing problems -- much like those associated with Asperger's disorder, a mild form of autism. That's the latest theory of eating disorders, proffered in The Times (U.K.) by Janet Treasure, head of the Eating Disorders Unit at the South London and Maudsley Hospital NHS Trust. In essence, faulty circuitry in the brain causes the restrictive, repetitive and obsessive behaviors of both disorders. Those with anorexia target the abnormal patterning toward food. Those with Asperger's focus intensely on other areas of interest. Treasure's controversial thesis is based, in part, on commonalities that the two disorders share. According to eating disorder experts, individuals with anorexia generally express trademark personality styles through food: Perfectionism. I want to look exactly like the fashion model ideal. Anxiety. I am terrified of being fat. [ Full article ] |
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