Evolutionary biology and psychiatry: The case of anorexia nervosa

doi:10.1016/0162-3095(89)90001-0

Ethology and Sociobiology

Volume 10, Issue 4, April 1989, Pages 223-240

https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(89)90001-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

A review of the literature and an analysis of 19 case histories suggest that evolutionary mechanisms such as reproductive suppression, kin selection, and parental manipulation are involved in the development of anorexia nervosa. From this perspective, anorexia nervosa is viewed as—in some cases—an adaptive feature of human reproductive strategies and may be best understood as an emergency strategy that is pursued whenever the sovereign handling of one's own reproductive potential is not possible because of socioecological or ontogenetic constraints.

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Ecological contingencies in women's calorie regulation psychology: A life history approach
2013, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Citation Excerpt :
Indeed, women who are close to this threshold (female athletes, for example) can suppress and restore fertility by losing or gaining only a few pounds, respectively (Frisch, 2002). Guided by the logic of the critical fat hypothesis, researchers have proposed that women may adjust their body fat as a means of regulating their reproductive capacity in response to changing ecological conditions (the reproductive suppression hypothesis: Becker, Breedlove, & Crews, 1993; Condit, 1990; Frisch, 1976; Salmon, Crawford, Dane, & Zuberbier, 2008; Surbey, 1987; Voland & Voland, 1989; Wasser & Barash, 1983; Williams & Dickson, 2002). This framework predicts that when ecological conditions favor faster life history strategies, women should experience psychological and behavioral shifts that promote body fat accumulation.
We used insights from life history theory and the critical fat hypothesis to explore how environmental harshness influences women's food and weight regulation psychology. As predicted by our theoretical model, women who grew up in poorer, more unpredictable environments responded to harshness cues in their adult environments by exhibiting a greater desire for food (Studies 1 and 2) and a diminished concern with calorie restriction and weight loss (Study 3). In sharp contrast, women who grew up in more predictable, wealthier environments responded to these cues by exhibiting a diminished desire for food and increased concern with calorie restriction and weight loss. This research provides novel insights into the role that local environmental factors play in women's food and weight regulation psychology.
Intrasexual competition and eating restriction in heterosexual and homosexual individuals
2010, Evolution and Human Behavior
Restrictive eating attitudes and behaviors have been hypothesized to be related to processes of intrasexual competition. According to this perspective, within-sex competition for status serves the adaptive purpose of attracting mates. As such, status competition salience may lead to concerns of mating desirability. For heterosexual women and gay men, such concerns revolve around appearing youthful and, thus, thinner. Following this logic, we examined how exposure to high-status and competitive (but not thin or highly attractive) same-sex individuals would influence body image and eating attitudes in heterosexual and in gay/lesbian individuals. Results indicated that for heterosexuals, intrasexual competition cues led to greater body image dissatisfaction and more restrictive eating attitudes for women, but not for men. In contrast, for homosexual individuals, intrasexual competition cues led to worse body image and eating attitudes for gay men, but not for lesbian women. These findings support the idea that the ultimate explanation for eating disorders is related to intrasexual competition.
Obesity and sexually selected anorexia nervosa
2008, Medical Hypotheses
Anorexia nervosa is diagnosed by drastic weight loss, a fear of gaining weight, a distorted body image, and, in women, three consecutive episodes of amenorrhea. It is often associated with a compulsive need for exercise, a bright outlook on life, and a high level of competitiveness. It afflicts primarily young women in higher socioeconomic strata who are highly competitive and otherwise overachievers. There are three adaptive explanations for anorexia nervosa: the reproductive suppression, the fleeing famine and the pseudo-female hypotheses. Here I present a novel hypothesis, the age-related obesity hypothesis. It posits that the otherwise normal tendency by women to seek a youthful appearance can become maladaptive and lead to anorexia nervosa in environments in which thinness becomes the primary indicator of youth, such as in modern industrialized societies. This hypothesis explains the aforementioned associated features of anorexia nervosa, and its increasing prevalence in western societies. The hypothesis generates several testable predictions: (1) Prevalence of anorexia nervosa across societies should be related to the degree to which thinness is an indicator of youth in a population. (2) Conversely, perceptions of the weight-age relationship should differ among populations depending on the prevalence of anorexia nervosa. (3) Anorectic individuals, or those with the propensity to develop the disease, should have a biased perception of the weight-age relationship. (4) Experimental manipulation of individuals’ perception of the weight-age relationship should affect weight concerns, particularly among anorectic or at-risk individuals. Should the hypothesis be supported it might be used to screen at-risk individuals. Furthermore, it would call for more integrative public health programs that take a comprehensive approach encompassing both obesity and anorexia.
An evolutionary perspective on dieting
2006, Appetite
Citation Excerpt :
In short, women's goals for themselves may diverge from men's goals for women. The same logic, taken a degree further, underlies the ‘Reproductive Suppression Hypothesis’ (Surbey, 1987; Voland & Voland, 1989), which suggests that adolescent girls may fail to gain sufficient weight/fat to achieve menarche, precisely so that they may avoid reproduction in a situation that is overly stressful and insufficiently supportive of ultimate reproductive success. The anorexic girl, then, is in effect postponing sexual maturation until such time as resources for successful family building are more favorable (Juda, Campbell, & Crawford, 2004).
We examine the principal features of dieting using an evolutionary perspective, which sheds light on certain anomalies while raising other interesting questions. We focus on (a) the reasons that dieters give for dieting, (b) the difficulty of dieting, and (c) the apparent opposition between the proclivities toward self-indulgence and self-control. We propose that while self-indulgence and self-control both serve adaptive functions, these evolved tendencies are naturally triggered by different ecological challenges. Implications for dieting in an ecology of plenty are explored.
Dieting symptomatology in women and perceptions of social support: An evolutionary approach
2004, Evolution and Human Behavior
This research examined the relationship between disordered eating attitudes in women and perceptions of parental readiness with perceptions of support from different sources. A total of 100 heterosexual women currently involved in a romantic relationship responded to three subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI; Body Dissatisfaction, Drive for Thinness, and Maturity Fears), questions measuring perceived parental readiness, and perceptions of social support from their partners, family, and friends. Women who perceived relatively low levels of support, particularly from romantic partners and family, reported increased dieting symptomatology and lower perceptions of parental readiness. For women, disordered eating attitudes may reflect an ancestral reproductive suppression mechanism that is activated by contemporary cues that indicated poor reproductive outcomes in ancestral environments. The potential implications of these results, as well as alternative interpretations of the findings, are discussed.
Evolutionary psychiatry: foundations, progress and challenges
2023, World Psychiatry

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Evolutionary biology and psychiatry: The case of anorexia nervosa

Abstract

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Life Sciences

Journal of Psychiatric Research

Lancet

Journal of Human Evolution

The evolution of social behavior

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics

Psychodynamics and therapeutic aspects of anorexia nervosa—A study of family dynamics and prognosis

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic

The onset of anorexia nervosa

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry

Das Rätsel ödipus—Die biologischen Wurzeln des Urkonflikts von Intimität und Autonomie

Parental investment and elite family structure in preindustrial states: A case study of late medieval—early modern Portuguese genealogies

American Anthropologist

Anorexia nervosa

Diseases of the Nervous System

Anorexia Nervosa

A mathematical model of evolutionary pressures regulating self-preservation and self-destruction

Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior

Female infanticide, reproductive strategies, and social stratification: A preliminary model

Cooperative breeding in birds and mammals

Magersucht und Bulimia—Empirische Untersuchungen zur Epidemiologie, Symptomatologie, Nosologie und zum Verlauf

The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection

Household composition and female reproductive strategies in a Trinidadian village

Anorexia Nervosa—A Multidimensional Perspective

Zur Klinik, Psychopathologie und Familienstruktur der Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa

Transactions of the Clinical Society (London)

The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I and II

Journal of Theoretical Biology

A study of 56 families with Anorexia nervosa

British Journal of Medical Psychology

The natural history, treatment and prognosis of anorexia nervosa, based on a study of 38 patients

Journal of Mental Science