Transcript Eating disorders clinical characteristics

Abnormal Behaviour
Different ways of understanding abnormal
behaviour (models of abnormality)
Eating disorders
– Anorexia & bulimia nervosa
– Biological & psychological explanations
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– Biological
– Psychodynamic
– Behaviourist
– Cognitive
Eating Disorders
Symptoms & clinical description
– How is a diagnosis made?
Prevalence
– How common are they?
– What makes it more likely that a person will
get them?
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Risk factors
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Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders
– Cognitive (thinking)
– Affective (emotion)
– Behavioural
– Physical
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Symptoms of psychological disorders can
be categorised into:
Anorexia Nervosa
– Severely restricted food intake
– Weight loss (below 85% of expected)
– Distortion of body image
– Underplays seriousness of weight loss
– Fear of becoming fat
– Cessation of periods (3+ missed)
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Main symptoms:
Anorexia Nervosa
Prevalence
– Affects 1 in 200 adolescents
– 90% of sufferers are female
– Commonest in 15-17 year old girls (1%)
– 8% die within 5 years of onset
– 70% recover within 10 years
– 22% struggle with chronic symptoms
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Prognosis:
Anorexia Nervosa
– Hard working, high achieving
– Compliant, high need for approval
– High need for control, low tolerance of change
– Perfectionist
– Competitive environment
– Occupation associated with low weight
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Risk factors
Bulimia Nervosa
Bingeing episodes
– Consumption of large amounts of food
– Feeling that eating is out of control
– Self-induced vomiting
– Laxative abuse
– Excessive exercise
Weight typically in normal range, but sufferer
unusually preoccupied with body weight/shape
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Purging behaviour
Bulimia Nervosa
Prevalence
– Affects up to 3% of young women
– Rare in men
– Later onset than anorexia (late teens-20s)
– 70% full or partially recover within 10 years
– Average 5yrs between onset & treatment
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Prognosis
Bulimia Nervosa
Risk factors
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– Anxious & depressed
– Poor impulse control
– Alcohol & drug use
– High susceptibility to stress
Health Risks
– Irregular heartbeat & cardiac arrest
– Liver & kidney damage
– Bone defects & osteoporosis
– Damage to teeth & oesophagus
– Infertility
– Electrolyte imbalance (sometimes fatal)
– Cognitive impairments
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Starvation, bingeing & purging can lead to: