
Anorexia May Be Habit, Not Willpower, Study Finds - huac
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/health/extreme-dieting-of-anorexia-may-be-entrenched-habit-study-finds.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
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medymed
When medical staff see someone resolutely starving themselves in a state
psychiatric institution, drinking liters of water before their daily weigh-ins
to nudge the number up, and hiding their full Ensure cans from nurses to avoid
the calories, it is hard to chalk it all up to any normal and relatable
definitions of the words habit or willpower, especially given that the
behavior overcomes the drive for energy consumption, one of the strongest and
most primitive drives in all organisms, and one which seems abolished in a
deranged fashion. Even if habituation plays a major role in the development of
the disease, it is hard to seriously consider the proposed solutions like
"switch to eating with the left hand, as a reminder to think about eating
different foods" as promising therapies in cases of recalcitrant anorexia.
Which is not to say it won't be tried; I imagine side effects are minimal...

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irremediable
Yeah... definitely worth trying, but there's good reason to be sceptical.

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jestar_jokin
From a rationalist perspective, relying on "willpower" is the same as just
saying "I should really do that" without action to follow. To make changes in
your behaviour, you should rely on forming habits, and you should make it as
easy as possible to fall into those habits. This is how "fake it until you
make it" works.

(Obviously, things get tricky if you have a mental illness.)

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danharaj
Willpower is fake as shit. You'll note it isn't mentioned in the article body.
Executive function is a thing, but it isn't what people refer to when they
talk about willpower. Then again, usually people talk about willpower to
establish a hierarchy between people who do a thing, and people who don't do a
thing.

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a3voices
Most non-obese adults have calorie restricting habits to some extent (I, for
one, would eat all day if it didn't make me gain weight). People with anorexia
just take it too far.

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justinator
Wait, what? Don't you get, I dunno, _full_?

That's what stops me from eating all day. I feel satisfied with the amount
I've eaten. You, know: this automatic thing.

If you _don 't_ feel that, there's something amiss. You've described it so
strangely, by calling what you have a more moderate type of habit to anorexia.

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a3voices
Being "full" is a spectrum. I meant that if it didn't matter, I would stuff
myself all day long without any regard to calories.

