EC Psychology And Psychiatry

Review Article Volume 13 Issue 2 - 2024

Motivational/Emotional Systems in Eating Disorders

Teodosio Giacolini1*, Lorenzo Tarsitani1, Federica Petrini1, Laura Picconi2 and Giuseppe Abbracciavento3

1Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
2Department of Medicine and Aging Sciences, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy
3Institute for Maternal and Child Health Burlo Garofolo (IRCCS), Trieste, Italy
*Corresponding Author: Teodosio Giacolini, Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Received: December 20, 2023; Published: January 18, 2024



Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa still remain a malaise poorly understood in its etiology, and even less in its treatment. Affective neuroscience has shown that human personality is rooted in primary motivational/emotional systems that have been shaped along their own phylogenetic history. Eating disorders are increasingly recognized as an expression of the motivational/emotional systems involved in the dynamics of Sexual selection starting from adolescence. The latter pushes sexually mature individuals to compete for obtaining partners, and competition constitutes a vulnerability area for females affected by eating disorders. The intra-sexual competition hypothesis of eating disorders emphasises the importance of hormones and the links with dissociated functioning.

 Keywords: Affective Neuroscience; Bain Emotional Systems; Eating Disorders; Dissociation; Social Competition