Body Image: Is It a Useful Concept? (Maybe Not So Much)

I recently attended the International Society of Critical Health Psychology’s 8th Biennial Conference in Bradford, England. At the conference, I had the pleasure of attending many talks that challenged the way we approach health psychology. Luckily for me, there were several sessions that touched on issues of disordered eating and body image.

One such talk, a panel presentation with Hannah Frith, Sarah Riley, Martine Robson and Peter Branney, challenged attendees to re-think the way we approach body image. When I returned home, I immediately downloaded an article by Kate Gleeson and Hannah Frith (2006) that discusses this same idea and essentially begs the question: Is the concept of “body image,” as it is currently articulated, actually useful?

This might come off as a controversial question; after all, body image is central to many studies (and treatment programs) related to eating disorders. We’re told repeatedly … Continue reading →

CCK and the "Hunger Trap" in Anorexia Nervosa (Why Gaining Weight is Hard)

Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a digestive hormone that stimulates fat and protein digestion, and promotes the feeling of satiety. CCK is released after food consumption to promote digestion (by releasing digestive enzymes from the pancreas and stimulating bile secretion). In rats and monkeys, injection of CCK induces satiety, though it seems (from what I’ve skimmed), the extent to which CCK regulates food intake in humans is not well-established. Previous research on the role of CCK in anorexia nervosa (AN) has found conflicting results, in part because of methodological issues related to measuring levels of CCK. In a recent study, Cuntz and colleagues (2013, freely available online), having developed a better assay for measuring CCK, wanted to clarify its role in AN patients.

The authors had the following goals and hypotheses (I omitted one):

  • Objective 1: Compare CCK levels between AN patients and healthy controls before and after a meal
  • Objective
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