Psychological disorders are the manifestation of incorrect or maladaptive thought processes. Specifically with Anorexia, distortions and errors are the face of these thought processes. For example a person’s perception of the body being overweight when in reality they could be severely underweight, followed by feelings of dissatisfaction with their present appearance. Therefore causing further unnecessary and potentially irrational, dieting behaviours.
These conclusions can be supported by a study carried out by Fairburn (1989) who found that most patients with eating disorders admit they are unlikely ever to be completely satisfied with their shape and weight. If these patients continue to determine their self-worth through body shape, they are likely to continually suffer from eating disorders and remain unhappy. These distorted thought processes lead the patient to adopt strict, inflexible dietary rules. If the rules are broken, the sufferer will experience a sense of failure and a decrease in self-esteem.
Various errors in cognition can be just as influential, in a person’s progress with Anorexia, four fine examples of this are:
· All or nothing thinking
“I ate one biscuit. That’s blown everything!”
· Over generalising
“If I fail at controlling my eating, I fail at life.”
· Magnifying or minimising
“My weight loss isn’t serious.”
· Magical thinking
“If I reach size 6 then my life will be perfect.”
The semi-starvation that is a result of these distortions and errors can lead to actual cognitive changes. These might be demonstrated in such areas as trouble concentrating, difficulty understanding, and poor judgment.
There are several ethical issues, associated with the cognitive anorexia. To begin with the cognitive model has problems, as it can result in blaming the person. Additionally the circumstance, from which the anorexia arose, may have been from a case of trauma, however the cognitive model implies the problem lies in perception.
A number of scientific support is present for the cognitive explanation of anorexia, Mckenzie et al(1993) found that female patients overestimated their own body size, specifically in relation to other woman. Furthermore they speculated that their ideal weight was lower, compared to none anorexic people. Finally this study found that, after a sugary snack, people believed their body size had increased. Additionally Fallon and Rozin (1985) carried out a study, with both male and female participants, they found that compared to male participants, females found themselves much heavier than acceptably attractive and heavier then they consider ideal. The studies conducted testing the explanation backup the ideas put forward, and in turn show that they do have accurate measure.
The cognitive explanation of anorexia, can also be criticised, many woman are unhappy with the present state of their body, yet they do not develop and eating disorders. Furthermore the explanation provides a fine view of the results and symptoms associated with anorexia; however, it fails to specify what caused it in the first place. Finally there is very little evidence throughout that the treatment of altering thought processes, can actually help.
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