Summary of the 2014 OkAND Spring Convention - Essay Example

How our Brains Guide our Forks (Summary) How our Brains Guide our Forks The objectives of the presentation are to understand the history of psychiatric diagnoses and eating disorders classification, to understand research domains criteria and its influence on psychiatric diagnoses, to understand the cycle of eating disorders, and understand current neurobiology of eating disorders. With regard to eating disorders, they are mental illnesses with their cycle starting with a brain that has risks or traits for eating disorders influenced by environmental factors that contribute to a cycle of eating disorders.

The traits that are risk factors vary from one eating disorder to another with temperament and personality traits playing a crucial role although the interaction between genes and the environment trigger eating disorders. For anorexics, stopping the condition is a challenge since the brain continues with the illness as it becomes dependent on the anorexic state once an individual is malnourished. Conversely, bulimics find it challenging to stop since there is disconnect between the ideal image of their body and the urges of the body.

Various therapy challenges abound for both anorexics and bulimics. For anorexics, therapy challenges include a decrease in the drive to consume foods, altered rewards from eating, challenges in maintaining new eating habits, and the lack of scientific guidance to optimal feeding method or the composition of a diet. On the other hand, therapy challenges for bulimics include chaotic nutrient availability and eating habits, the lack of stable energy due to behavior of eating disorders, impulsivity, difficulties perceiving the fuel needs, altered rewards from eating and eating disorders behaviors, and other challenges.