Word: anorexia
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...Eating Disorders Unit at the Maudsley Hospital in London, anorexia is not seen as a social disorder - or even primarily a psychological one. While most American treatment providers blame perfection-seeking parents and the media's idealization of hollow-cheeked actresses for eating disorders (among other dysfunctional behaviors), researchers at Maudsley believe the root cause has little to do with social pressure. Rather, they think anorexia is better explained by heredity - perhaps by some of the same genes associated with autism...
...London researchers have been studying the commonalities between these two conditions for several years. On the surface, they appear entirely different - in autism, patients have difficulty connecting with people in the outside world, while in anorexia, sufferers seem consumed by other people's perceptions - but Maudsley researchers point out that the salient characteristics of each illness are similar. (See six tips for traveling with an autistic child...
...example, both anorexic and autistic patients have a tendency to behave obsessively and suffer from rigid ways of thinking. Tic disorders, which commonly affect people with autism, are found in 27% of people with severe anorexia. And in both conditions, patients have difficulty with "set-shifting," or changing course mentally...
...Both autism-spectrum conditions and anorexia share a narrow focus of attention, a resistance to change and excellent attention to detail," says Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, who is not involved in the Maudsley research...
...addition, says Janet Treasure, director of the Maudsley Eating Disorders Unit, past research suggests that about 15% to 20% of patients with anorexia may also have Asperger's syndrome, an autism-spectrum disorder. Research also shows that the conditions occur together in families more often than they would by chance. It's possible, she says, that the same genetic predisposition for autism and anorexia may be expressed differently depending on gender. (Read "A Link Between Autism and Testosterone...