Anorexia nervosa är en vanlig ätstörning och drabbar oftast tonårstjejer. Det finns ingen förklaring till varför en person utvecklar anorexia nervosa, däremot är det en del faktorer som är vanligt förekommande. Det kan handla om framställningen av det kvinnliga och manliga idealen i samhället, men även om personens låga självkänsla och behovet av kontroll. Eftersom det är vanligast att utveckla anorexia nervosa i puberteten vill vi se vilken kunskap elevhälsovården, det vill säga skolsköterskor och kuratorer, på högstadieskolor i Malmö har. Något som vi vill undersöka är om skolorna har några förebyggande insatser gällande anorexia nervosa. Vi är även intresserade av att se hur elevhälsovården handlar i mötet med en person som har utvecklat anorexia nervosa. Det är av stor vikt att personer som arbetar nära ungdomar har en bred kunskap gällande anorexia nervosa för att det ska upptäckas tidigt. Vi anser att personerna vi har intervjuat har en god kunskap gällande både att upptäcka och se signaler, symptom och möjliga orsakser till anorexia nervosa. Vi anser att intervjupersonerna även har ett bra bemötande och handlande i mötet med personer som utvecklat anorexia nervosa. Däremot är de förebyggande insatserna få på skolorona och vi anser att det hade kunnat göras mer. / Anorexia Nervosa is a common eating disorder which often is affecting teenage girls. There are no explanations to why a person develops anorexia nervosa, but there are some explanatory factors that are frequently occurring. It may relate to the reproduction of the female and male ideal in the society, but it may also relate to low self-esteem of the person and the need of control. Since it is most common to develop anorexia nervosa during puberty we would like to examine what knowledge the student health services, i.e. the school nurses and counselors, has in secondary schools in Malmö.We want to examine whether the schools has any preventive bodies regarding anorexia nervosa. We are also interested in how the student health service handles the interaction with a person that developed anorexia nervosa. It is of great value that persons who works close to youth has a wide knowledge regarding anorexia nervosa in order for them to discover it as soon as possible. The persons we have interviewed have good knowledge regarding both discovering signals, symptoms and possible reasons for anorexia nervosa. Furthermore the persons we interviewed also have a proper way of responding to and treating persons that has developed anorexia nervosa. On the contrary we discovered that the preventive bodies on the schools are too few and we argue that there are more to be done.

<p dir="ltr">Activity-based anorexia (ABA) is a rodent model of anorexia nervosa (AN) that induces several key components of AN, including voluntary reduction in food intake, reduced body weight, hyperactivity, and alterations to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Experiencing ABA during adolescence also effects behavior in social contexts, including contributing to the development of social avoidance even after cessation of exposure to the paradigm and restoration of weight lost during ABA. We used the social partition (SPT), novelty suppressed feeding (NSF), marble burying, and elevated plus maze (EPM) tests to determine the effects of two bouts of adolescent ABA on anxiety-like behavior in weight restored young adult female rats. One-way ANOVA analyses showed that two bouts of adolescent ABA contribute to prolonged increases in general and social avoidance in young adult female rats compared with control rats. To explain our behavioral findings, we next explored the effects of two bouts of adolescent ABA on glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRFR1) expression in the oval bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (_ovBNST), a brain region involved in anxiety and social behavior. While previous research shows that two bouts of adolescent ABA contribute to HPA axis hyperactivation and _ovBNST inflammation following weight restoration from adolescent ABA, our one-way ANOVA analyses showed no significant differences in GFAP or CRFR1 expression in the _ovBNST across groups. Finally, to explore whether adolescent AN symptoms can predict anxiety in young adult women, we had female university students complete retrospective surveys of adolescent food restriction, eating disorder symptoms (EDEQ), and physical activity, as well as retrospective surveys of worry, behavioral inhibition, childhood adversity, and parental style. Using these variables, we created four adolescent predictor models: 1 (EDEQ; physical activity), 2 (restrictive eating; physical activity), 3 (EDEQ; physical activity; worry; behavioral inhibition; childhood adversity; and parental style), and 4 (restrictive eating; physical activity; worry; behavioral inhibition; childhood adversity; and parental style), which we regressed onto participants’ current generalized anxiety, fear of food, social avoidance, obsessions, compulsions, social physique anxiety, compulsive physical activity, and perceived stress scores. Regressing each predictor model onto these variables revealed that predictor model 1 better predicted and accounted for more variance in all anxiety types compared with predictor model 2. Moreover, predictor model 1 accounted for the most variance in fear of food and social physique anxiety compared with all anxiety types. Finally, predictor models 3 and 4 explained the most additional variance in generalized anxiety and social avoidance compared with all anxiety types. Cumulatively, our data suggest that, while adolescent eating disorder signs and symptoms predict several anxiety types in female university students, the effects of two bouts of ABA during adolescence on anxiety-like behavior in weight restored female rats is limited to specific anxiety-provoking stimuli.</p>

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Background Previous studies have suggested that individuals recovered from anorexia nervosa (AN) are characterized by increased serotonergic (5-HT) activity that might be related to elevated levels of anxiety. Assuming these traits to be also present in individuals at risk for AN, it was further hypothesized that restricting food intake might be a means to temporarily alleviate dysphoric affective states by reducing central nervous availability of tryptophan (TRP), the sole precursor of 5-HT. One study that supported this hypothesis found anxiolytic effects in individuals with a history of AN during an experimentally induced short-term depletion of TRP supply to the brain. Methods In this placebo-controlled, double-blind cross-over study, 22 patients weight-recovered from AN (recAN) and 25 healthy control participants (HC) completed questionnaires assessing anxiety and momentary mood during acute tryptophan depletion (ATD), a dietary intervention that lowers central 5-HT synthesis. Results The ATD procedure effectively reduced the ratio of TRP to competing for large neutral amino acids in the peripheral blood, indicating decreased TRP supply to the brain. Effects of ATD on anxiety and mood did not differ between recAN and HC. Bayesian null hypothesis testing confirmed these initial results. Discussion Our results do not support the hypothesis that short-term depletion of TRP and its impact on the brain 5-HT reduces anxiety or improves mood in AN. As the evidence for the role of 5-HT dysfunction on affective processes in patients with AN is limited, further studies are needed to assess its relevance in the pathophysiology of AN.

Research efforts in the area of eating disorders have been numerous and varied. However, few studies have investigated the existence of specific predisposing factors that could render a young female adolescent more susceptible to developing an eating disorder. The present study was attempted in an effort to fill this knowledge gap. One hundred and fifty nine, 12 to 14 year old female students not known as having an eating disorder, were surveyed at a public school in Roanoke County, Virginia. The participants were asked to complete four different instruments which were: The Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, the Children's Assertiveness Inventory, the Nutrition Questionnaire designed by the researchers and the Eating Disorder Inventory or EDl. Correlational statistics were used to identify any significant relationships between the first three instruments and the ED!. Significant relationships were identified, suggesting the existence of specific factors related to tendencies toward eating disorders as assessed by the EDI. Among these factors were: poor self-concept and body image, obesity and weight problems, active interest or involvement in dieting as well as certain familial behaviors. The results of this research effort will hopefully be used in designing educational programs for the prevention of eating disorders, as well as for enhancing the detection of these disorders. Further research needs will also be suggested. / Master of Science

The research presented here is an exploratory investigation of the potential role of psychosexual factors in the development of the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia. The study sample involved 41 female eating disordered patients (16 anorexics and 25 bulimics), diagnosed using the DSM-III-R criteria. These patients were recruited from The Eating Disorders Program at St. Albans Psychiatric Hospital in Radford, Virginia. Five hypotheses were tested concerning the following psychosexual factors: sexual knowledge and attitudes; sexual experience and functioning; sex roles; gender identity (sexual orientation); and history of sexual abuse or incest. The hypotheses postulated that the psychosexual factors would exist or be perceived by eating disordered patients as significantly different than would be statistically expected according to available normative data. The instrumentation for measuring these factors included the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory, the Bern Sex Role Inventory, and the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid. Compared to normative data, significant results were found in the total sample for all psychosexual factors except Sexual Knowledge and Gender Identity. However, no significant differences were found between the anorexic and bulimic subsamples. These results are discussed along with their implications for therapy and research. / Ph. D.

A booklet was completed by 7 anorexia nervosa patients, 12 bulimia nervosa patients, and 19 non-clinical individuals. The research instrument was designed to measure transgenerational family processes, interpersonal relations orientations, coping strategies, and stressful behavioral response patterns of anorexics and bulimics. Separate multivariate analysis of variance procedures were performed on the aforementioned variables to determine significant differences among the groups. The findings indicated that significant differences existed among the groups in regards to transgenerational family processes (F = .000), interpersonal relations orientations (F = .014), and coping strategies (F = .003). / Ph. D.