Listening Through The Noise

This past week, we learned about the basics of motivation. There are four main theories on motivation that can help explain why exactly we do what we do. As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I will be talking about eating/hunger, weight loss, and eating disorders. In general, eating can be explained through the drive-reduction theory. This theory states that we eat to maintain homeostasis in our bodies. Eating also fits into Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid at the lowest level: physiological needs. These most basic needs of food, water, and shelter must be met before the higher level needs can even be thought about or met.

Now, what's a good blog post without a little TED? I found this awesome TEDx Talk earlier today. In this talk, Dr. Laura Hill further explains the biological and psychological causes and effects of anorexia. If you have 20 minutes, I encourage you to watch the video because her reenactment of what happens in the brain is quite powerful.

In essence, Dr. Hill suggests that anorexia nervosa is both a biological and a psychological problem. She claims that fMRI scans have shown that there are fundamental differences between the neural pathways in normal people and the neural pathways in anorexics, specifically where eating is concerned. In normal people, hunger motivates (and sends signals) to the body to go acquire and eat food. Then, as you're eating the food, the brain releases dopamine, which makes the brain and body want more. This is the body's way of positively reinforcing eating. However, in anorexics, there is no motivation to eat and eating does not cause a release of dopamine. Instead, eating causes an abnormal amount of anxiety and nervousness. Much of the anxiety comes from the mental noise.

"You look fat! You're ugly. Food is gross. Why would you want to eat? What's wrong with you? You're fat." Imagine trying to function normally with a loop of that playing in your head every time you try to eat. That's what anorexics go through. When it comes to eating and functioning at the same time, normal daily functions takes precedence. For example, if an anorexic has to take a test and the doctor asks her to eat breakfast, the anorexic might plead with the doctor saying that she can't think through the mental noise that comes about as a result of eating breakfast. To me, this makes anorexia as a disorder much more profound than a distorted body image. It becomes your behavior and dictates how you live. Yes, I knew these facts before, but never to this extent. Beating the illness is also much more than just gaining the weight back. It's about silencing the voices so that you can live.