In our
society today, mass media is an inescapable phenomenon. It’s practically
impossible for our minds to not be bombarded by images of super skinny models
in some form or another. According to the National Association of Anorexia
Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) the mortality rate from eating
disorders is higher than any other mental disorder among young women. It’s
incredible how something that starts off simple and rewarding can morph into
something so dangerous. In a recent article from the New York Times, Erica
Goode discusses a new study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience called
Neural mechanisms supporting maladaptive
food choices in anorexia nervosa. The idea is that anorexia may be so
difficult to treat because it has become a habit.
This study
was based off of a theoretical paper the senior author, Dr. Timothy Walsh,
published a couple years ago in which he proposed the initial weight lose was
the reward and since it was paired with dieting, eventually the act of dieting
itself may have become a reward. This theory may help explain why earlier
treatment is more successful.
For this
new study, the researchers used fMRI to observe activity in 21 anorexic women
and 21 healthy women while they chose what foods to eat. The ventral striatum,
which is part of the brain’s reward center, was activated in both sets of
women. However, in the anorexic women, the dorsal striatum showed more activity
compared to the healthy women. This is an area involved in habitual behavior so
Goode assumes they “were acting automatically based on past learning.”
In class,
we discussed that long-term potentiation and continued firing of a synapse
leads to less of the stimulus needed in order to achieve the same end result
and fire the subsequent neuron. Maybe that is what is occurring within the
dorsal striatum of women with anorexia. In that case, I think I would agree it
could be that over time, the choices became so normal that stopping the
behavior would be difficult because that is what their mind had been used to.
Also, a big concept in cognitive neuroscience
that we talked about in class is the interconnectivity of the brain networks
and the different brain regions. We also discussed McClelland and Rumelhart’s
neural network models they created in 1986 where units can be deactivated or
activated with connections that can be strengthened due to previous firing. Dr.
Walsh predicted that as diet becomes more habitual, the dorsal striatum becomes
more involved. Since this different network seems to be activated in the case
of people with anorexia, further experimentation could possibly be done using
TMS if one were to specifically target the dorsal striatum and see how limiting
it’s activity at the time of decision making affects the decisions and
behaviors of those suffering from the disorder. The article also alludes to
cocaine addiction and compulsive gambling to also be predicated on this theory
of involvement of the habitual behavior network.
In my
opinion, I believe there is still a lot to be researched about anorexia and habitual
behaviors but each study revels something that could be used to potentially help
people battle devastating disorders and addictions.
New York Times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/health/extreme-dieting-of-anorexia-may-be-entrenched-habit-study-finds.html
ANAD
http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/
Hi Shannon,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job analyzing this information. I had honestly never considered anorexia as a type of habit. I always thought it revolved more around the sensation of looking skinny and control over the body. Realizing that the area involved with habit behavior is more active in women with anorexia brings new ways to think about and study anorexia.
Also, long-term potentiation does seem to me, an ignorant undergrad, as a probable cause for habit forming. With more synapses forming between neurons, signal strength increases. I am not quite sure how to relate this change to how humans feel during habit forming. If their dorsal striatum has very high activity, and long-term potentiation comes into effect, how would this actually feel? A desire to continue the habit? Following the habit feels better? I believe you did address this when you said that stopping the behavior would be difficult because it seemed routine.
I think moving forward, looking at the interconnectivity between the dorsal striatum and ventral striatum would be very interesting. Better knowing their relationship may be helpful to understanding habits and how to better break them (or form them, we all need good study habits!). To conclude, as our society becomes more entrenched in pop culture, there is a greater need to study habits that form because of media influences. Knowing how these habits form will help us better know ourselves, and this will help us better control ourselves. Hopefully controlling our habits is more rewarding than the feeling of being controlled by a habit.
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI think you chose a great article! It is so sad to see so many people starve themselves in order to simply look smaller or skinnier. There are other ways of non-dangerous weight loss that include eating healthier and fitness. I can see why this can be a habit for some people. Looking a certain way is definitely a reward. Once that goal is achieved, the starving is almost a habit.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/10/12/the-power-of-habit-and-a-new-theory-of-anorexia/
The article above is a similar article to yours! I think that one can make healthy eating a habit and feel the rewards just as much as starving themselves. It would be much healthier though. It's really neat how we can think of this problem and relate it to parts of the brain like the dorsal striatum and ventral striatum.
Hey Shannon, I really appreciated this post! I think it was very interesting that habitual behavior goes hand-in-hand with addiction. I think there is a major biological component to addiction but I remember learning that the "nurture" component had a major effect on addiction, just like any other mental disorder. I definitely agree with your discussion about the interconnectivty of different brain regions as well. In my psychology of addiction class from last year, I recall discussing that the DSM was considering including a "gaming" disorder that could be applied to people who play video games or gamble excessively, which I think relates to your post as well. I read an article recently regarding a discovery that rats reacted to consuming Oreos in the same manner as consuming cocaine. In this study done at UConn, researchers had rats go through two options of a maze, with one side giving cocaine and the other with oreos and a saline injection instead. The results showed that rats spent the same amount of time on both the drug and the Oreo side of the maze. When studying this reaction further, the researchers noticed that the Oreos activated more neurons than cocaine! I related this article back to a recent experience I had when a friend brought a box of Oreos to the ic to study a few nights ago. Although I knew had bad they were for my health, I could not stop eating them! I also had a very content mood for the rest of the night. Because of this, I think the level of dopamine released can override the conscious resistance of something unhealthy, just as annorexia may produce a high out of habit.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link!
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1016/Oreos-addictive-Rats-treat-Oreos-like-cocaine-study-suggests
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI chose to read this article because I know people who have suffered from this disorder in high school. It's a terrible thing to watch someone go through. This is one of the reasons why I'm studying psychology.
It is interesting that they have started studying anorexia as something habitual. I could have guessed that though since the person dealing with it would be going through the same notions everyday. Addictions often become a habit. My dad smokes while he drives, it's out of habit now that every time he drives he has to have a cigarette. Repeatedly doing the same thing everyday more than once a day would lead it to become a habit.
I understand that the women found it rewarding, but I would never call it that seeing how terrible of a disorder it truly is. The sufferer is controlled by this false image of herself (i use her because the article was focused on women.) There's nothing rewarding about the disorder. It's quite sad how these women can't break the habit or cut loose from that disturbing image they think they see in the mirror. The brain is fascinating, but sometimes it gets hung up on certain aspects of life, and it's hard to get it to change.
Good therapy is difficult to find for these women; relapses often occur after treatment. After this study it's making me think that maybe it has a lot to do with the habit. It's difficult not to go back to habitual behaviors. Perhaps new findings will help how people treat anorexia. Very interesting article I'd like to look into more studies on the subject.
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteBefore reading your blog post, I had never thought of looking at anorexia in that manner. Usually what comes to mind when I think about anorexia is that it's more of a problem with one's self perception and self esteem. I had never realized that it could be much deeper than that. But now, seeing that the behaviors caused by anorexia can also be habit forming is eye opening.
This could open up many new ways for the treatment of anorexia as a habit in addition to the previous therapy process. With this new information, anorexia can be seen and studied in a different light. This may hold the key to creating treatment processes that are more effective and with less relapse rates.
It was really interesting to find out that when healthy women and anorexic women were choosing their food, both reward centers in the women's brains go off, but in the anorexic women, they were also found to have higher levels of anxiety. I can't imagine what its like to feel all the effects of your brain's reward system but at the same time have an elevated anxiety level due to what caused the reward center to go off in the first place.
Hopefully knowing that anorexia's roots lay a lot deeper than just self esteem issues will lead to a better understanding of why and how anorexia occurs and how to combat it.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post. When eating disorders are discussed or treated, it usually involves improving the victim's mental health in that they often seek therapy and adjust their social psychology. However, this article is very interesting and very important for it examines what is happening in the minds of anorexic individuals.Based on your analysis, it makes sense to me that anorexia is linked to habitual behavior. In order to develop an eating disorder, you have to have undergone a seemingly permanent lifestyle transformation. Since it is a habitual behavior, it demonstrates why it would be so difficult for anorexics to recover from their disorder. I can see how the habit of anorexia can be rewarding because once someone sees that something worked once, in this case, anorexics see how skipping meals or excessively exercising alters their body, they'll continue to do for more rewards. Until eventually, they'll continue their behavior habitually. What I would like to know is if most anorexics continue to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and thats why the continue their dangerous habit of starvation or do they continue their behavior even when they realize it had lost its initial purpose? I think that by understanding the mechanisms in the brain related to anorexia will help us prevent it or alleviate the disorder in the future.
ReplyDelete