The brain: a family of cooperating, competing and sometimes conflicting systems – Part II

Abstract

Neuroscience in a Nutshell is designed to help readers with relatively little knowledge of neuroscience to learn more about the relevance of the brain to eating disorders. The central idea underpinning these papers is to challenge the notion of the monolithic self – the overwhelming impression that each of us is a single identity – thinking, acting and speaking. Many players, sub-systems, make up the family of the self and its brain. The self is a final common expression of cooperating, competing and sometimes conflicting systems within the brain, each asking for that system's unique perspective to be given voice. This information lays the foundation for a ‘family therapy’ or systemic approach to the self. In this paper, I deal with a number of systems: (a) executive, (b) communication, (c) attachment, (d) reward and motivational, (e) social and moral sensitivity, and (f) meaning from memory. Each of these is presented with a special emphasis on the way the ‘family of the self’ function changes in eating disorders. The scene is set for ‘family therapy’ in which different systems will be addressed in the therapy of the eating disordered self.

Keywords:

• neural circuits
• family therapy of the self
• translating neuroscience into clinical practice
• the monolithic self