Janet Polivy

The effects of alcohol on eating behavior: Disinhibition or sedation?☆

Abstract An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of alcohol (administered without the subjects awareness) on the eating behavior of normally restrained and unrestrained eaters. Consumption was assessed in a taste-rating context. The results indicated that when disinhibitory cognitive or social cues are unavailable, alcohol does not release the suppressed eating of restrained eaters, but rather counteracts the disinhibitory effects of anxiety. The experimental findings were interpreted as providing indirect support for Pliner & Cappells (1974) labelling model of alcohol intoxication.

Psychological reactions to hysterectomy: A critical review

The animal and human literature concerning psychological reactions to hysterectomy was reviewed and examined. Psychological reactions to hysterectomy include reported loss of sexual desire, although this is not organic as in lower mammals; concerns about loss of femininity, loss of strength, and loss of childbearing ability and menstruation; effects on aging and appearance; and lowered self-esteem. Psychological sequelae to hysterectomy consist generally of depression and referral to a psychiatrist. Factors were described that might be predictive of a woman’s reaction and adjustment to hysterectomy, and suggestions for psychological preparation of the hysterectomy patient were made.

What does abnormal eating tell us about normal eating

Because we are intrigued with understanding normal eating, we are eager to address and answer the question posed by the editors of this volume. Compared with normal eating, abnormal eating has received the lion’s share of research and professional attention, owing to its dramatic manifestations and consequences. (The major categories of abnormal eating are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, obesity having receded as an eating disorder because of professional uncertainty as to whether eating in the obese is truly disordered.) We are not sure that we understand the etiology and dynamics of anorexia and bulimia, and it seems clear that they are probably not the only abnormalities of eating worth attending to, but progress is being made. Certainly tremendous resources of time, effort and money have been dedicated to delineating and explaining these disorders, and to eliminating them either before or, more often, after they appear. Normal eating is the goal of therapy, and if perfectly normal eating is too much to hope for, then we will settle for eating that at least more closely approximates normality.