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Too Skinny….How Does It Happen?

How does this happen?

Anorexia is a complex disease, with myriad causes that range from culture to environment to—as recent studies have shown—genetics. Having a predisposition for anorexia means that a simple decision to diet away those last five pounds triggers something (it’s unclear as to what) that could lead you down a slippery slope.  The drive to become thinner is actually secondary to concerns about control and/or fears relating to one’s body. The individual continues the endless cycle of restrictive eating, often accompanied by other behaviors such as excessive exercising or the overuse of diet pills, diuretics, laxatives, and/or enemas in order to reduce body weight, often to a point close to starvation in order to feel a sense of control over his or her body. This cycle becomes an obsession and, in this way, is similar to any type of addiction.  Studies suggest that a genetic (inherited) component may play a more significant role in determining a person’s susceptibility to anorexia than was previously thought. Researchers are currently attempting to identify the particular gene or genes that might affect a person’s tendency to develop this disorder, and preliminary studies suggest that a gene located at chromosome 1p seems to be involved in determining a person’ s susceptibility to anorexia nervosa.  Anorexia could be caused by a genetic brain disorder shared by sufferers of autism and Asperger’s syndrome.  Noticeably sufferers of anorexia share traits with people who have autism, such as an inability to change rules they have set themselves, perfectionism and a tendency to fixate on details.  A few sources suggest that anorexics are addicted to fasting, apparently because of the chemical changes brought on by starvation. The opioids, enkephalins and endorphins are found to be at elevated levels in the spinal fluid of patients with anorexia.

Studies show that 20% of those affected by anorexia die directly from complications surrounding the disorder.  It is lethal, however, there is help and there is a solution it takes a lifetime of change but the only way for those suffering from anorexia to gain the control they are looking for is to admit the powerlessness over their disorder and behaviors.

Not Seeing Clearly

Warped Perception

What are the contributing factors of an eating disorder?  Even the slimmest women have, on occasion, stood in front of the mirror and asked: “Does this dress make me look fat?”  No matter who you are at some point you have been your own worst critic.  Why do we do this to ourselves and what drives body dysmorphia? Scientists have discovered that the body image a person projects in their own brain is “massively distorted” and can be up to two thirds wider than it is in reality. The brain’s own “body model” is also around a third shorter than the body actually is, according to the study at University College London.  Researchers believe the findings could explain why slim women look in the mirror and see themselves as fat. They may also help explain the cause of some eating disorders.

Dr Michael Longo, a neuroscientist is a leader in brain research, said: “These findings may well be relevant to psychiatric conditions involving body image such as anorexia, as there may be a general bias towards perceiving the body to be wider than it is.” He also says,“Some people look in the mirror and receive information which tells them they are not fat, but they still can’t use that to over-ride their distorted body model and make themselves believe it.”

The scientists had subjects place their hands under a board and relay where specific landmarks such as knuckles and fingertips were.  In doing so people were warped in their sense of size.  Scientists believe the distortion stems from the number of sensory signals being sent to the brain from different parts of the skin.  The brain’s warped “model” of the hand could be conveyed to the rest of the body,  therefore adding to the beginnings or bolstering feelings of negative body image.  For instance, if I am walking around feeling shorter and fatter than I really am these findings are saying that I am way off in my judgement.  Surprisingly, researchers found that subjects could pick their accurate hand size from other templates.  Therefore, researchers believe this shows that people have an accurate visual image of their own body but are still unable to use that information to over-ride the “brain model” which tells them they are larger.

Want vs. Consequences

Relapse

Relapse prevention is crucial to an addict’s recovery.  Relapse, although it doesn’t have to be, is a prominent feature of addiction, and one of the most painful.  Most people who struggle with addiction will have one or more relapses – the return to drug use after a drug-free period – during their ongoing attempts to recover. This can be extremely frustrating for patients and for families, as they have already experienced great pain.  Even more interesting, researchers could prevent these relapses by treating rats with a molecule that blocks glutamate signals, suggesting that this chemical might be investigated as a new treatment to prevent relapse in former cocaine-addicts. “Since wanting a drug is more directly connected to relapse [than liking it], glutamate could prove a promising target for new drug developments designed to treat cocaine addiction,” Vorel says. “Considering all the social and economic aspects of drug abuse, pharmacological intervention alone may not solve the burden. But it could help cocaine abusers which number 1.8 million in the U.S. alone.”

Relapse happens with all addictive drugs not just cocaine there are multiple – and often interactive – factors can increase the likelihood of relapse. These are some of the commonly cited precursors:

• drug-related “reminder” cues (sights, sounds, smells, drug thoughts or drug dreams) tightly linked to use of the preferred drug(s) can trigger craving and drug seeking
• negative mood states or stress
• positive mood states or celebrations
• sampling the drug itself, even in very small amounts

The motivation to seek a drug, once triggered, can feel overwhelming and sometimes leads to very poor decision making: the user will pursue the drug, despite potentially disastrous future negative consequences (and many past negative consequences).  The most confusing part about relapse for someone who is not an addict, is that decision to relapse is made from a sober state of mind.  The importance of a strong program and a defined support group is the foundation upon which a better decision process can be made.

Brain-imaging is aiding the medical field to understand the paradox of the decision to pursue a drug reward despite knowing the consequences. For example, very recent imaging research shows that visual drug cues as short as 33 milliseconds can activate the ancient reward (“go”) circuitry, and that this process does not require conscious processing – it can begin outside awareness.  By the time the motivation does reach awareness the reward circuit has a strong head start. This head start means the area of the brain is responsible for weighing the consequences of a decision and for helping to “stop” the drug thoughts is already behind in the process and without a sufficient block or contrary action the addict is well on their way to relapse.

At War With Alcoholism

In America, where there is an “epidemic” of mental health problems and alcohol abuse that have been reported in the troops returning home from war zones in recent years.  Overall, more than one in ten (13 percent) of the respondents said that they were drinking alcohol in quantities defined by researchers as hazardous, according to the World Health Organization’s Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test .

Soldiers and Alcoholism

It is a concern for officials in Britain and America to focus on prevention of PTSD, whereas a culture of binge drinking and alcohol misuse could be more of a problem, both before and after each soldier’s tour of duty.  American’s serve at least a 15 month deployment compared to the 5-6 months in other countries.  This has added to the mental unstability of the troops returning from duty. In Britain The charity Combat Stress said, however, that it had seen a 66 per cent rise in demand for its services in the past five years, with veterans taking an average of 14 years to seek help after being discharged. Support services were now seeing about 4,000 new veterans each year, but this could rise to 9,000 a year within a decade, the charity added.

A recent Army mental health report concluded that most service members need closer to two years between tours before their battle-related symptoms resolve themselves. Studies show that alcohol consumption is up 13% amongst armed forces.  There are several factors which lead to the higher rate of PTSD, alcoholism, and mental instability within returning troops.  Although our troops are fighting our country’s battles, sadly they return to only 5 years of coverage after their duty is completed.  Compare that with Britain’s lifetime care and it is absolutely unacceptable considering soldiers do not report their symptoms on the whole for quite some time after their return.

Take it or Leave it?

The best chemical dependency rehab is to not pick up at all.  This can be difficult because most people feel they can stop.  Interestingly this may be the case for some but not others…

Take it or Leave it

The science community has been researching the function of newborn neurons, to help understand their possible role in psychiatric and neurological diseases such as mood disorders, schizophrenia and epilepsy.  This research is simply incredible. The scientific community may possibly be on the verge of understanding, treating or even preventing life-ruining brain-based diseases — including one that affects an estimated 23 million Americans: drug and alcohol addiction. 
In a recent study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Michele Noonan, a University of Texas neuroscience graduate student in the lab of Amelia Eisch, shows that a lack of neurogenesis, or birth of new neurons, in the adult rat can actually cause drug addiction.  The very idea that if an individual is not producing a normal amount of  new neurons, it leaves them susceptible to addiction is groundbreaking.  This is the strongest evidence yet that there are real biological reasons why some people might be more vulnerable to addiction than others, and gives us a better understanding of the role these very important generating neurons might play in the brain.  This also implies that perhaps in the future there may be methods for testing for the rate of production and practicing preventative measures to not pick up that first drink, hit, or pill….because you would actually “know better”.