Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Biological Explanations
for Bulimia Nervosa
- Serotonin
- Depression and BM occur together
- Suggests that they have a common cause
- Both linked to imbalances in neurotransmittter serotonin
- Kaye et al (2001)
- Compared levels of
neurotransmitters serotonin,
dopamineand noradrenaline
in recoverd bulimics and a
control group of people who'd
never had it
- Dopamine and Noradrenaline levels
were the same in both partys but
serotonin levels were abnormal in
recovered bulimics
- Neural Explantions
- Nitric Oxide
- Neurotransmitter involved in regulation of
food intake
- Transmit information to other neurons
- Vannacci et al (2006)
- Assessed effects of
Nitric Oxide in Bulimia
- Studied 62 female
patients who'd been
refered to outpatients
for eating disorders
- Of these, 50% were
diagnosed as suffering from
Bulimia
- Measured plasma nitrate
and cGMP levels
- Plasma nitrate and cGMP
levels were a lot higher in
Bulimia patients than healthy
patients
- Among Bulimia patients there was a positive
correlation between nitrate levels and frequency
of binge eating episodes
- Gender Biased- only looked at females
- Neural Explanations
- Evoloutionary Explanations
- Sexual Competition hypothesis
- Abed (1998)
- Suggests Bulimia is a direct consequence of the evolved need to
compete with other females to attract men
- Evoloution of nubility
- Research shows that in women waist to hip ratio (WHR)
determines how attractive males find them
- Most attractive is between 0.7 & 0.8 (Singh 1994)
- To avoid cuckoldry males have developed an aversion
to even slightly larger waists as it is an indication of
pregnancy
- Sexual Competition
- Helps women compete with other nubile (sexually
mature and attractive) females for the best long-term mate
- Culture Biased- only looks at western cultures
- Longitudional study in Minnesota found Bulimia is 33 times
greater in females than males