Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America
Environmental and Genetic Risk Factors for Eating Disorders: What the Clinician Needs to Know
Section snippets
A plausible scenario of how genes might influence eating disorders
A question commonly posed by clinicians, families, and patients alike is, how do genes work in influencing risk for eating disorders? The lay conception of genetics tends to overemphasize the deterministic aspect of genetic risk. Modeled after mendelian 1 gene–1 disorder examples (eg, Huntington's chorea), the misperception emerges that there is 1 gene for anorexia nervosa and if you have that gene you are destined to develop the condition. Clinicians are well positioned to dispel these myths
Gene-Environment Relationships Potentially Influencing Eating Disorder Etiology
For decades, parenting styles have been unrightfully blamed for causing eating disorders. Considerable care must be taken when discussing G × E interplay not to convey the message that somehow parenting is to blame for these pernicious illnesses. Conversely, a purely genetic explanation should not be taken to mean that parents need not examine their parenting style and the influence it might have on their children. The context for the following discussion is that parenting does matter.
Summary
Although several decades ago there was significant debate about the influence of “nature” versus “nurture” on the development of psychological traits and outcomes, it is now generally accepted that both genes and environment interact to influence personality and behavior. However, in the clinical setting, genetic influences on clients' presentation of their personal histories, including characteristics of their family-of-origin environment, their perceptions of stressful life events, and their
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Drama therapy and the treatment of eating disorders: Advancing towards clinical guidelines
2022, Arts in PsychotherapyContent analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on weight and shape control behaviors and social media content of U.S. adolescents and young adults
2022, Eating BehaviorsCitation Excerpt :Other participants reported the presence of body positivity/acceptance on social media and generally felt inspired/comforted by this, while others indicated they had deleted social media. These findings are in line with previous research findings that not all adolescents and young adults are equally vulnerable to COVID-19 related changes in social media content as shown in previous studies of media exposure and eating disorder risk (Levine et al., 2009; Mazzeo & Bulik, 2009). Additionally, body positive content may confer a protective effect (Cohen et al., 2020).
DNA methylation of ghrelin and leptin receptors in underweight and recovered patients with anorexia nervosa
2020, Journal of Psychiatric ResearchCitation Excerpt :Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious eating disorder with one of the highest mortality rates among psychiatric disorders (standardized mortality ratio (SMR) = 5.86; Arcelus et al., 2011). Although the exact etiology of AN is still unknown, substantial evidence indicates that a complex pattern of inheritance of various traits, influenced by both genetic and environmental factors (Mazzeo and Bulik, 2009), may be a significant etiological factor. Therefore, epigenetic mechanisms, which modulate gene expression, are becoming increasingly important in the research on AN.
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This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health Grant MH-068520 (Mazzeo).