Rethinking anorexia nervosa.

Narrator Sally Marlow shares the experiences of anorexia nervosa sufferers; their feelings on the illness and the future. Intimate statements initiate a discussion regarding the learning patterns which cultivate the disorder and its progression into severe and enduring anorexia nervosa. Dr Urilke Schmidt talks about the statistics regarding age and the demographic of long term patients with the illness. The mind is central to the investigation into management of the illness; she discusses therapy options. These treatments range from re-feeding clinics, CBT groups and individual interpersonal therapy. Rebecca Park, of Oxford University, unpacks neurological evidence that suggests the disorder could be located in the brain, however she affirms that the relationship the illness has with therapy options is deeply problematic due to the amount of unknowns surrounding the disorder. Marlow discusses the psychiatric therapy designed to target the brain of sufferers such as, invasive treatments, magnetic stimulation and neuro-electrical therapy. Neuro-imaging has furthered these treatments through displaying certain activity hosted in parts of the brain, such as the pre-frontal cortex. Dr Jessica Mclelland of Kings College London demonstrates the process of TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) on Marlow who briefly explains the sensations experienced. While TMS is in its early days of practice, a more invasive therapy is under development: deep brain stimulation or DBS, a neuro-surgical procedure currently being pioneered in various institutes such as the neurology departments at the University of Toronto and Oxford University. Various medical experts discuss this treatment, their optimism for the future of anorexia nervosa treatments and the consideration of the individual within medical ethics.