Anorexia is not the fear of gaining weight but rather the pleasure of losing weight, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Translational Psychiatry.
Researchers at the Center Hospitalier Sainte-Anne (France) wanted to understand what mechanisms are put in place in people affected by anorexia.
“When research stalls, it is important to question the criteria that are at the very basis of the disorder,” explains Professor Philip Gorwood, author of the study.
The researchers used a “skin conductance” test that measures the perspiration of the skin of volunteers exposed to various images. The emotion caused by certain images indeed leads to an increase in perspiration, which is rapid and automatic.
Researchers showed images of normal-weight or overweight people to 70 patients affected byanorexia. In these patients presenting various degrees of severity of the disease, the vision of these images caused approximately the same reaction as the healthy volunteers.
On the other hand, in front of images of thinness, the anorexics displayed emotions evaluated as positive while the healthy subjects did not feel any particular emotions.
“We therefore re-evaluated the last criterion, which is nevertheless very present in the discourse of the patients, on the assumption that it would be a mirror reflection of what is really involved, that is to say say a reward effect of weight loss”. We established the postulate that the patients felt the pleasure of losing weight rather than the fear of gaining weight.”
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that mainly affects young girls. The diagnosis is based on three international criteria: the presence of a dietary restriction leading to weight loss, a distorted perception of weight and body and an intense fear of gaining weight. L’anorexia nervosa affects in France 0.5% of young girls and 0.03% of boys between 12 and 17 years old, according to Inserm. Today there is not as much treatment to cure this eating disorder.
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