Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa

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Lena Tran: PSY7 [EMA]

Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa

People who suffer from anorexia nervosa try to lose weight by starvation, whereas those suffering from bulimia nervosa often binge eat (overeat) followed by purging themselves of what they have just consumed in order to maintain a constant weight.

The age range from the two illnesses differ slightly, with those suffering from bulimia nervosa being of the age range, 16-40, and the majority of those suffering from anorexia nervosa being diagnosed between the ages of 13-18. The age range in obviously more varied in bulimia, though that is not to say that there are not cases of anorexia in a more diverse age group.

In addition, the consequences of the two conditions affect different factors of the individual. Studies have found anorexia being the main cause of considerable amounts of reduced grey matter in weight-recovered patients. Anorexia patients are also more likely to die from starvation, suicide or organ malfunction than Bulimics. With bulimics, the continued effects of self-purging causes kidney damage, irregular heartbeat, disease resulting from vitamin and mineral loss and many other injuries to the body’s health.

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Holland et al (1984)

Holland et al set out to find a genetic link in those who suffered from anorexia nervosa by using twins. Twins, a natural and perfectly normal occurrence, are an extremely good means to research genetic links in any sort of psychological experiment. This is because of the genes the two siblings share. Monozygotic twins (MZ) share 100% of the same genes. Their physical appearances are often identical, though Dizygotic (DZ) twins, who share 50% of the same genes, can also appear identical too (in rare cases). If there was any uncertainty with a pair of twins, Holland ...

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