Recalcitrant emotions and body checking in anorexia nervosa

Somogy Varga
Asbjørne Steglich-Petersen

(Aarhus University)

Recalcitrant Emotions and Body Checking in Anorexia Nervosa

The DSM-5 highlights two essential psychological features of anorexia nervosa (AN): recalcitrant fear of gaining weight and body image disturbance. Prominent accounts grant false beliefs about body weight and shape a central role in the explanation of AN behavior. First, we illustrate how shifting the emphasis from false belief to recalcitrant fear can supplement a number of different non-doxastic models of AN. We introduce the Recalcitrant Fear Model of AN (RFM) and show that such fear can explain AN behavior without the intermediary of a false belief, and thus without the associated explanatory burdens and conceptual difficulties. Second, we explore the explanatory potential of the Recalcitrant Fear Model of AN (RFM) in relation to body checking (i.e., the repeated visual or physical inspection of parts of one’s own body), which is a prominent behavior associated with AN. We argue that RFM, when combined with certain plausible auxiliary hypotheses about the cognitive and epistemic roles of emotions, is able to explain key characteristics of body checking, including how body checking behavior becomes habitual and compulsive.

Palazzo Chiaia Napolitano, Aula “Gramsci”
4th oct 2023 - 10:30

• Luigi Pastore
• Andrea Bosco
• Ignazio Grattagliano