ACX
Singing The Blues
Scott Alexander proposes a theory of depression as a recalibrated happiness set point, drawing parallels with fever and anorexia, to explain why depressed people seek out sad stimuli.
17 min read 2,509 words
A thread through the archive
anorexia
Essays tagged “anorexia”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Essays on anorexia
5 essaysACX
Book Review: The Geography Of Madness
Scott reviews a book on culture-bound syndromes, expanding the discussion to how all mental illnesses are influenced by culture to varying degrees.
57 min read 8,723 words
ACX
Book Review: Crazy Like Us
Scott Alexander reviews 'Crazy Like Us', exploring how Western mental health concepts spread globally and whether raising awareness of mental health problems might make them worse.
43 min read 6,581 words
SSC
Del Giudice On The Self-Starvation Cycle
Scott Alexander explores anorexia's biological aspects beyond cultural factors, presenting and analyzing del Giudice's 'self-starvation cycle' theory as a more comprehensive explanation of the disorder.
10 min read 1,403 words
SSC
Anorexia And Metabolic Set Point
Scott Alexander speculates that anorexia might be caused by a distorted metabolic set point, similar to but opposite of obesity's mechanisms.
12 min read 1,770 words