Things I am bitter about (tw: eating disorders)

So, as reported in the Guardian:

Scientists have found that the devastating eating disorder anorexia nervosa is not purely a psychiatric condition but is also driven by problems with metabolism.

The finding may help to explain doctors’ poor record in treating the illness and pave the way for radical new approaches to predict and treat those who are most at risk.

Researchers made the discovery after comparing the DNA of nearly 17,000 people with anorexia and more than 55,000 healthy controls. Those with anorexia submitted their DNA through the Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative or the eating disorders working group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium.

The study revealed eight genes that linked anorexia to anxiety, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, all of which was expected. But it also flagged up DNA involved in burning fat, being physically active and having resistance to type 2 diabetes.
...
Doctors have long considered family environment to be a factor in anorexia nervosa, but in some cases even widely held beliefs might be mistaken. Perfectionism, for example, has been blamed as a cause of anorexia, but the latest work suggests it is the other way around.

In summary: yet another disease primarily experienced by women turns out not to be purely psychiatric, which might be why psychiatry alone isn't working all that well for many people. And possibly not their parents' fault, either? Who knew it wasn't all in their heads?

Grrrr.