Bulimia and the brain was the topic of a report released in January 2008 by General Psychiatry. The report focused on female patients with bulimia nervosa and their lack of impulse control compared to women without an eating disorder. The use of MRI brain scan showed distinct behavioral differences when faced with decisions about voluntary behavior.

Bulimia nervosa plagues adolescent females and continues into adulthood. Most professionals agree that binge eating is triggered by a sense of loss of control. The act of binge eating and then subsequent voiding of food gives the sufferer a feeling of regaining that control.

During testing the MRI was able to observe the function of electrical currents that travel throughout nerve cells in the brain. The particular circuitry studied, controlled an individual’s voluntary behavior. The testing forced the individual to make decisions that went contrary to the subject’s normal thinking process. Testing was conducted with 20 women suffering with bulimia and 20 women with normal eating habits.

Test results showed the women that suffered with bulimia responded quicker and made more errors than the control group. The bulimic women when faced with conflicted reasoning showed less activity in the brain circuitry controlling voluntary behavior.

Conclusions reached during testing showed the differences in the way the brain circuits moved and how they performed. The brain activity of the women with bulimia nervosa does not seem to activate appropriately; this would imply a lack of impulse control and also an inability to make the right decision when faced with binge eating behavior.

So often people get in a cycle of depression and eating for comfort and develop a food addiction. The cycle perpetuates the depression and eating and it goes around and around. Addiction happens and the individual is caught in the cycle of addiction long before they identify a problem with food. Many individuals would like to be able to say there were no warning signs of an eating disorder. Individuals in recovery refer to that rationalization as denial.

Addiction whether to food, alcohol or drugs develop over-time. As the disease progresses so does the behavior, the lie the person tells themselves is I can control this on my own I don’t need help. That is typically when the individual has crossed the line into the addiction and are unable to get out of the cycle. Food is a required means of energy used to fuel the body, when food is misused and turns against the person invariably the person blames the food, people around them, his or her job, spouse, family, friends anyone except themselves.

Typically the blame goes on until the person says enough and starts to recognize the only way out of the eating disorder cycle is through it. No one ever said it was going to be easy; the addiction process did not happen overnight and will not go away overnight. Finding an eating disorder treatment program to help the person overcome the addictive behavior patterns and to help them formulate a plan to live a life without using and abusing food is essential for the recovery process. After reading this article he or she feels motivated and ready to break free from the cycle of food addiction contact an eating disorder treatment program and begin the life intended.