The Role of Habits in Anorexia Nervosa: Where We Are and Where to Go From Here?

Purpose of Review The persistent maladaptive eating behavior characteristic of anorexia nervosa (AN) can be understood as a learned habit. This review describes the cognitive neuroscience background and the existing data from research in AN. Recent Findings Behavior is habitual after it is frequentl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current psychiatry reports 2018-08, Vol.20 (8), p.61-61, Article 61
Main Authors: Uniacke, Blair, Timothy Walsh, B., Foerde, Karin, Steinglass, Joanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anorexia
Anorexia Nervosa - psychology
Behavior
Cognitive Neuroscience
Eating Disorders (S Wonderlich and JM Lavender
Habits
Humans
Hypothesis testing
Learning
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Psychiatry
Section Editors
Topical Collection on Eating Disorders
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Summary:Purpose of Review The persistent maladaptive eating behavior characteristic of anorexia nervosa (AN) can be understood as a learned habit. This review describes the cognitive neuroscience background and the existing data from research in AN. Recent Findings Behavior is habitual after it is frequently repeated and becomes nearly automatic, relatively insensitive to outcome, and mediated by dorsal frontostriatal neural systems. There is evidence for such behavior in AN, in which restrictive intake has been related to dorsal frontostriatal systems. Other neural and neurocognitive data provide mixed findings, some of which suggest disturbances in habit systems in AN. Summary There are compelling behavioral and neural data to suggest that habit systems may underlie the persistence of AN. The habit model needs further research, via more direct behavioral hypothesis testing and probes of the development of habitual behavior. Investigation of the habit-centered model of AN may open avenues for the development of novel treatments.
ISSN:1523-3812
1535-1645
DOI:10.1007/s11920-018-0928-5