The behavioural approach as an explanation for eating disorders

 This approach outline anorexia as the result of conditioning. It focuses on:
  - Classical conditioning : eating food is associated with anxiety.
  - Operant conditioning : individuals are given positive reinforcement for being slim.
  - Social learning theory : young women are rewarded for being slim and imitate cultural role models.
 The success of behaviour modification therapy support these explanations.
 While this approach can explain features of the disorder such as cultural specificity and the increasing incidence of eating disorders, it has been criticised in that:
  - It doesn't explain why some women develop the disorder, but others do not.

 The cognitive approach as an explanation for eating disorders
 This approach focuses on:
  - Distorted cognitions about body image.
 However this approach can be criticised in that:
  - Cognitions may be an effect of the disorder, rather than the cause.

The psychodynamic approach as an explanation for eating disorders

This approach focuses on:
 - Eating disorders act as a means of avoiding sexual maturity.
 - Minuchin's family systems theory which suggests anorexia develops as a result of enmeshed family dynamics.
 - Bruch's view that anorexia is related to mother-daughter sonflicts over dominance and autonomy.
This approach has been criticised in that:
 - It lacks objective support.
 - It blames the mother for the daughter's disorder.
 - It does not explain why there has been an increase in the incidence of anorexia.

The biological approach as an explanation for eating disorders

This approach considers the possibility of infection which is an unlikely cause of eating disorders. It also focuses on:
 - genetic vulerability - by looking at twin studies;
 - environmental factors;
 - biochemical factors such as endocrine dysfunction and changed hormone levels.
 This spproach has been criticised in that:
 - There is not a 100% concordance rate for monozygotic twins.
 - Changes in biochemistry may be the result of the disorder, rather than the cause.
 - Care needs to be taken befote generalising research finding based on animals to humans.

The clinical characteristics of anorexia and bulimia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is typified by:
 - low body weight ( being less than 85% of expected weight);
 - anxiety;
 - an unrealistic body image;
 - amenorrhea.
It is a disorder found mostly in young women in Western and middle-class culture, and has increased in the last 20 years.

Bulimia nervosa is typified by:
 - body weight being usually within 10% of normal weight;
 - episodes of binge eating and purging;
 - lack of control over eating when bingeing;
 - self evaluation depending excessively on body shape;
Stufferers may also have been anorexic.
The condition is also increasing in Western society as well as elsewhere.

The congnitive model

This model suggests that mental disorders stem from distorted and irrational beliefs, and there is no doubt that patients with anxiety disorder and depression have distorted negative beliefs.

 However, this model has been criticized in that:

       -It is not always clear whether the distorted thinking is an effect of the disorder, or the cause.

       -Another issue is that the cognitive model has mainly been applied to anxiety and depression, and its relevance to other mental disorders is largely unknown.

       -It implies that individuals are somehow to blame for their problems.

The behavioural model

 This model suggests that learning maladaptive behavior via conditioning or observational learning causes mental disorders.

 This model offers people with mental disorders hope, in that it implies their behavior can be changed – anything that is learned can be unlearned using the same techniques.

 The approach is most suited to explaining and treating those disorders that emphasis external behavior, e.g. phobias.

 Ethically, there are advantages such as the lack of blame attached to a person with a metal disorder, however it has been criticized in that:

        -It is somewhat over simplistic and ignores individual differences.

        -It s based on animal research.

        -The treatments developed from this model can be painful and manipulative (e.g. aversion therapy).