Brain abnormalities in people with BDD and Anorexia

In case anyone hasn't come across this, it makes for an interesting read.

People with anorexia nervosa and with body dysmorphic disorder have similar abnormalities in their brains that affect their ability to process visual information, a new UCLA study reveals.

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla- ... ormalities

So it's not that I'm deformed looking it's that I'm retarded. Great.

I'm am skeptical when it comes to articles claiming that "mental illnesses" are due to some brain abnormality. Then again, now there's some semi-legit proof that this may be the case.

Even still I don't really see why so many people with BDD have co-morbid eating disorders, I certainly don't. In my case it's just a distorted perception without obsessions.

I'm am skeptical when it comes to articles claiming that "mental illnesses" are due to some brain abnormality.

what do you think the primary cause is? just curious.

Not sure about one set cause, but I've got a few ideas. Usually it's caused by some underlying problem, which is triggered by some 'environmental' issue.

- DNA defects that have been inherited from parents (nothing can be done about this sadly).

- Physical issues (gut, thyroid etc.). It sounds hard to believe, but in some cases it's actually true. One example would be someone with hyperthyroidism being diagnosis with Bipolar or Psychosis.

- Overuse/misuse of psychotropic medication. Some people have adverse reactions to them, leading them to develop anxiety or mood issues. Substance abuse would also fall under this category.

- Immediate traumatic emotional or physical abuse; this can literally change the brain as a way to cope, such as in PSTD.

- "Psyche damage" that is caused by prolonged emotional or physical abuse during childhood or adolescence. This can also lead to brain changes as a way to cope with the stress. I'm not just making this up; psyche damage often causes changes in the brain, which is why people with certain personality disorders (among other issues) often have slight brain changes.

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In the case of BDD, there's a split in opinion as to what it's caused by. One side thinks it's caused by emotional abuse, and the other believes it's caused by an amygdala hijack, but what if it's both.

1. Bullying and/or childhood abuse.
2. The victim becomes fearful of others in general, and sees other people later on in life as potential threats; they are always "looking for the bully on the other side of the street".
3. That prolonged fear response causes the amygdala (the part of the brain that controls fear) to go into hyperalert mode.
4. Amygdala hijack.
5. In some susceptible individuals, this could lead to BDD (or other neurotic disorders).

Info on how abuse changes the brain:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1633716/
http://www.recoveringself.com/brain/wha ... re-bullied

Auxiliary11 wrote:Not sure about one set cause, but I've got a few ideas. Usually it's caused by some underlying problem, which is triggered by some 'environmental' issue.

- DNA defects that have been inherited from parents (nothing can be done about this sadly).

- Physical issues (gut, thyroid etc.). It sounds hard to believe, but in some cases it's actually true. One example would be someone with hyperthyroidism being diagnosis with Bipolar or Psychosis.

- Overuse/misuse of psychotropic medication. Some people have adverse reactions to them, leading them to develop anxiety or mood issues. Substance abuse would also fall under this category.

- Immediate traumatic emotional or physical abuse; this can literally change the brain as a way to cope, such as in PSTD.

- "Psyche damage" that is caused by prolonged emotional or physical abuse during childhood or adolescence. This can also lead to brain changes as a way to cope with the stress. I'm not just making this up; psyche damage often causes changes in the brain, which is why people with certain personality disorders (among other issues) often have slight brain changes.

----------
In the case of BDD, there's a split in opinion as to what it's caused by. One side thinks it's caused by emotional abuse, and the other believes it's caused by an amygdala hijack, but what if it's both.

1. Bullying and/or childhood abuse.
2. The victim becomes fearful of others in general, and sees other people later on in life as potential threats; they are always "looking for the bully on the other side of the street".
3. That prolonged fear response causes the amygdala (the part of the brain that controls fear) to go into hyperalert mode.
4. Amygdala hijack.
5. In some susceptible individuals, this could lead to BDD (or other neurotic disorders).

Info on how abuse changes the brain:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1633716/
http://www.recoveringself.com/brain/wha ... re-bullied

Thanks for this. So much of this fits me. No wonder.

Amygdala hijack was marg's pet theory before she got chased off for her relentless self-righteous preaching but there are plenty of criticisms of that over-simplistic model. I copy one article below.

http://work911.com/psychmyths/articles/amygdala.htm

A Myth?

Well, yes and no. Yes, there's a more primitive part of the brain called the Amygdala, and yes, it is part of the system involving emotional reactions. If you read about being hijacked, you'll come away with a sense that some of this is not under your control, and that's where the problem lies.

Perception and Cognition Keys To Emotional Responses

While most of us understand that our emotions affect our behavior, the piece that gets lost is that our thinking and how we interpret situations affects our emotional responses. It's pretty common sense. One person looks at a cat and freaks out. Another looks at a cat and feels comfortable? What's the difference? Their thoughts and self-talk are quite different, and it's the thoughts that are part of what triggers emotional responses -- in this case completely different ones. Neither person is getting hijacked by their primitive brains. They are, in many senses, hijacking themselves by a) their filtering of information and b) their cognitions about the information that gets through.

The filters act so that the people are actually processing quite different information about the same cat. The thinking will be different because different information is being processed, and as emotions are provoked by the thoughts -- a kind of cascade of escalating thought->emotional escalation.

Implications For Real Life

First, avoid the thought that events are hijacking your emotions through a specific part of the brain. Brain parts don't work in isolation, and it's probably the case that nothing we do is determined by only one part of the brain.

Second, it's good to know that over the last few decades Psychology has moved toward a greater understanding of the relationships between thought, emotion and behavior, so there's much more effective help for things like phobias, fears, depression and so on. By altering self-talk, which is easier (not easy, mind you) than altering emotional reactions first, one can learn to interpret things differently (reframe them).

I was actually reading another article recently (scientific thing) that suggested that 'brain abnormalities' aren't necessarily something that we are BORN with, but something that can happen as a result of behaving in a particular way over a prolonged period of time.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm not necessarily suggesting that the article I linked means that we had a 'brain abnormality' before developing BDD (or AN), but that it's also a possibility (and probably quite probable...lol) that our brains change more as BDD develops. Unhelpful thinking patterns, trauma, abuse, aversive experiences can shape the way we behave and thus how the brain processes information. I think that's what I can gather from what I've read. But then again, scientists seem to know more about the history of Mars than our own heads

DolphinDreams wrote:Amygdala hijack was marg's pet theory before she got chased off for her relentless self-righteous preaching

A. I thought Marg was actually a dude.
B. Pretty sure Marg was secretly a tweaker (the elusive spiritual type of tweaker), those walls of text don't write themselves

body-dysmorphic-disorder/topic183072-70.html

Auxiliary11 wrote:

DolphinDreams wrote:Amygdala hijack was marg's pet theory before she got chased off for her relentless self-righteous preaching

A. I thought Marg was actually a dude.
B. Pretty sure Marg was secretly a tweaker (the elusive spiritual type of tweaker), those walls of text don't write themselves

forgive my ignorance, but what's a tweaker?

and what happened to marg?