Feeding and Eating Disorders and Personality Disorders

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts related to feeding and eating disorders as well as personality disorders, based on the lecture notes provided.

Feeding and Eating Disorders

• persistent disturbance of eating or eating-related behaviour that results in the altered consumption or absorption of food and that significantly impairs physical health or psychosocial functioning (DSM-5-TR)

 

Most prevalent:

●Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa 

●binge eating disorder introduced into DSM5

●In Australia about 1million people will be affected by an eating disorder each year

 

Estimated lifetime prevalence rates:

●8.4% for women and 2.2% for men

●Emerging research is also showing that eating disorders are similar or higher for First Nations Peoples

 

Anorexia Nervosa

Characterized by 

●Self-induced Starvation

●Excessive exercise

●Food elimination (laxatives, vomiting) to avoid weight gain

●Reach at least 15% below ideal body weight

 

 Not about healthy weight loss; represents unhealthy levels of body mass index well below the healthy range.

●Life threatening with the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric diseases (Edakubo & Fushimi, 2020)  

Anorexi physical consequences

●Leads to poor physical health such as brittle bones 🦴 and death – usually via heart failure💀

 ● consistently maintenance of very low body weigght

●Occurs due to distorted body image often perceiving themselves as overweight despite wasting away.

●typically develops in adolescence or young adulthood and affects women more than men

●Of people in Australia with eating disorders, 3% have Anorexia and 80% of those people are girls or women. (NEDC, 2022)

Bulimia Nervosa

●characterised by a binge and purge syndrome

●consume large amounts of food 

●then induce vomiting, use laxatives or spend excessive amounts of time exercising to eliminate the food or the calories consumed

●Purge provides relief and reduces anxiety triggered by the binge

●But often leads to depression and loss of control

 

●of people with an eating disorder in Australia: 

• 12% of people have bulimia nervosa and 70% of them are girls or women.

 

Weight may be normal or above normal; not necessarily underweight.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED)

A disorder involving uncontrolled consumption of large amounts of food without compensatory behaviors.

Characterized by: 

●uncontrolled consumption of large amounts of food in one sitting 

●no evidence of behaviour to compensate for this overeating 

(E.g., no excessive exercise, use of laxatives or vomiting). 

 

●New addition to the Feeding and Eating Disorders category in the DSM-5 and DSM-5-TR

 

●No prevalence rates for binge eating disorder in Australia yet 

●Based on global reports by the WHO (World Mental Health survey), they would be higher than bulimia and anorexia nervosa

Diagnostic distinction: absence of compensatory behaviours differentiates BED from bulimia.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF EATING DISORDERS?

 

Still trying to understand, but here’s what we know so far…

●They run in families

●From biological perspective, there is a link with serotonin regulation

• Behavioural and cognitive factors in harmful dieting:

  • Criticism or appearance teasing by family members.

  • Family members’ own body image issues and dieting behaviours.

  • Observing others’ dieting/self-criticism.

Environmental and sociocultural factors:

• Strong influence of social media on body image, especially in young people.

• Transitions to work, relationships, and lifestyle choices heighten investment in self-presentation.

●Discrepancy may be triggered between unrealistic and idealised images and oneself

• This includes binge eating disorder which may provide comfort during stressful times

• Personality is diathesis for development of Uni Bohemia

• Women with anorexia often bright, talented perfectionist who are preoccupied with feeling in control and their controlling food intake seems to be the way of maintaining control in general particularly over impulses

Patient with eating disorders tend to fall into one of those three groups based on Their personality profile

1. One group is a high functioning perfectionistic and self critical, These have symptoms of either of the disorders

2. Second group who are more likely to have anorexia than bulemia or overly controlled, inhibited, avoid enough relationships, depressed and emotionally shut down

3. Third group who tend to be bulemic are under controlled, impulsive, sexually promiscuous, frequently, suicidal and parenting emotions that spiral out

 

Prevalence of Eating Disorders in Australia

About 1 million people affected annually, with prevalence rates of 8.4% for women and 2.2% for men.

Personality Disorders

• Personality = enduring patterns of thought, feeling, motivation, and behaviour activated in social interactions.

• Key feature: patterns are socially peculiar, inappropriate, and inflexible.

• Characteristics of personality disorders:

  • Chronic and severe disturbances

  • Substantially inhibit one’s capacity to love and to work.

 

Personality disorders are patterns that are socially peculiar, inappropriate, and relatively inflexible. chronic and severe disturbances that substantially inhibit one’s capacity to love and work

●E.g., narcissistic personality disorder:

●tend to use others

●hypersensitive to criticism

●feel entitled to special privileges

●become enraged if anticipated response in not received

●Little to no empathy for others

●This PD would prevent a person’s ability to commit to a 

relationship or friendship and work with others

Gender differeces

Gender distribution tendencies: BPD more prevalent in females; ASPD more prevalent in males.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

●Unstable interpersonal relationships

●Mood swings

●Unstable sense of identity 

●Intense fears of separation and abandonment

●Manipulative

●Impulsive behaviour

●Self-mutilation

 

●Affects about 1.4-5.9% of the population in Australia but closer to 43% hospital representation 

●About 10% of people with BPD die by suicide 

●10-30% of people who die by suicide carry the diagnosis of BPD

●People with BPD typically split representations into all good or all bad, so ten to see people either with them or against them

●Prone to attributing negative intentions to others

●Expect to be abused or rejected

 

Impact: high distress and increased likelihood of acting on distress relative to those without BPD

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)

Antisocial personality disorder is marked by

• irresponsible and

• socially disruptive behaviour

Symptoms include:

●Stealing and destroying property

●Lack of empathy

●Lack of remorse for misdeeds

●People with APD often can’t maintain jobs due to absences, harassment of others, stealing, impulsive behaviour

●They are often charming or described as “con-artists”

●Symptoms typically emerge or evolve from conduct disorder by age 15

●Only disorder that cannot be diagnosed in children

• Conduct disorder must have been present in childhood for under 18 diagnosis

• Not all children with conduct disorder develop antisocial personality disorder

CAUSES OF BPD AND APD?

 

Borderline personality disorder

●Psychodynamic theorists suggest that BPD stems from difficult attachment bonds

●Studies also implicate sexual abuse in causes of BDP

Antisocial personality disorder

●Physical abuse is more likely a cause than sexual abuse

●Psychodynamic and cognitive behavioural approaches implicate physical abuse, neglect, absent or criminal male role models

 

Adoption studies 

●show adopted child whose biological parent had APD is 3 x more likely to develop aggressive behaviour than a child without biological predisposition

●A child adopted by a parent with APD is also 3 x more likely to develop APD whether they are predisposed biologically or not

 

Twin studies 

●suggest environmental factors are more important predictors for APD in adolescence👧🏼

●Genetic factors more important predictors as people get older 👵🏻

Key Features of BPD

Includes instability in relationships, mood, sense of identity, and implications of self-harm.

Causes of Eating Disorders

Include genetic factors, serotonin regulation, family dynamics, and sociocultural influences.

Causes of Personality Disorders

Involve difficult attachments in childhood, exposure to abuse, and genetic predispositions.

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter linked to mood regulation, implicated in the biological basis of eating disorders.

Sociocultural Factors

Influences from society and culture that affect body image and can contribute to the development of eating disorders.