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Psychobiology of anorexia nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Detlev W. Ploog  and
Karl M. Pirke
Detlev W. Ploog*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, FRG
Karl M. Pirke
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Munich, FRG
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor Dr. Detlev Ploog, Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 10, 8000 Munich 40, FRG.
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Synopsis

The psychobiology of anorexia nervosa is described and explained under four headings; (1) the psychopathology as related to the motivation for fasting; (2) metabolic and somatic consequences of starvation, including brain morphology; (3) endocrine abnormalities in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and gonadal axis; and (4) the hunger drive and its possible perversions in terms of aspects of neuroethology and the reward system in the brain.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , November 1987 , pp. 843 - 859
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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