Unit 4 Clinical Psychology

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Unit 4 Clinical Psychology

• 7) Anorexia Biological explanation

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Homework check

• Homework check you should have considered the
  learning (behavioural) explanation for anorexia
  nervosa.
• Lets look at another explanation

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Learning outcomes

• 1) Describe and evaluate the biological
  explanation of anorexia nervosa.

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Biological approach

• Assumes our behaviour is controlled by the
  activity in the CNS, specifically the brain.
• The brain itself is organised into regions which
  have different roles, so a malfunction in one
  region may cause a behavioural problem in the
  individual.
• Malfunctioning of the hypothalamus plays an
  important role in the regulation of eating.
  Animal experiments which involve lesions in a
  particular part of the hypothalamus have led to
  either over-eating or starvation in the animals.

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Biological approach

• It is believed that noradrenaline acts on part of
  the hypothalamus which leads to eating in
  contrast, it was found that serotonin suppresses
  appetite in non-human animals.
• This biochemical importance has been used as an
  explanation for anorexia in humans. The lateral
  hypothalamus (LH) produces hunger and the
  ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) depresses hunger.
  A malfunction here may be the cause of loss of
  appetite in some, and over-eating in others. For
  anorexics it is as if their VMH is jammed on.

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Biological approach

• Another type of biological explanation is that
  anorexia may run in families, so genetics could
  play a part.
• Research in twins has shown that MZ have a higher
  concordance rate than DZ twins for anorexia.
  Holland et al (1984) found a 56 concordance rate
  in MZ twins, and only 5 in DZ twins.

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Task

• Evaluate the biological approach explanations for
  anorexia nervosa.

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And finally

• Homework research rational Emotive therapy as a
  therapy for someone suffering from anorexia
  nervosa.