Is anorexia the female Asperger’s?

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Is anorexia the female Asperger’s?
Professor Janet Treasure explains her controversial theory that eating disorders may be genetic
Very little research had been done on eating disorders and the causes remained a complete mystery to most psychiatrists. The view was that it was an illness that mainly affected middle-class, intelligent, white girls and was little more than an awkward phase of adolescence. Back then services were generally lacking, and treatments were borrowed from other areas of psychiatry and adapted to fit – a catch-all approach that spectacularly missed the incredibly complex causes of anorexia and bulimia. view article

Don't I wish! I need to lose sixty pounds. Among the asperger's women I have met, very few are very thin.

jaydog- this article was very interesting to me, and I can relate to the eating issues (for me it manifested as anorexia, bulimia or compulsive overeating over the years) and I would be curious to read more studies on this. In my case, I definitely can see the connection. I do believe that I have some asperger/hfa traits and between the lack of self expression coupled with the ocd stuff, I can see how my eating became disordered. Also, my father did abuse me and he responsed to my needs as a baby ( I remember him raging at me when I was in the crib- probably around age 1 or a bit older) by screaming at me and beating me. I was probably hungry or whatever, and I can see now how being hungry would invoke a fear response in me later in life after the way he responded to me as a baby/child. I also think whatever traits I had were augmented and made worse by not having an adult who could help me, who totally mishandled it by abusing me, and I think all of that internalized fear and rage had to come out somehow. Interesting, I'd be curious to read more studies on this connection.

No, Asperger's is the female Asperger's. I was naturally thin as a teenager. Now at middle age, I'm an OK weight for my height (not obese). I don't think AS and eating disorders have too much in common.

How's it going weird_el. If your obsessive compulsive stuff doesn't come out in the form of obsessing about food or weight, then it probably would make sense you wouldn't get this. Interesting, I'm new to this site but have noticed there are several conversations going on right now where some folks here do have (or have had) disordered eating. Maybe it's one of those things where you would need to experience it in order to see it.

It is stated in Tony Atwood's book on Aspergers that between 13 and 17% of females with eating disorders also have AS traits.
It is, in essence, another obsession, isn't it? Lists, calories, fat grammes, numbers on the scale etc. It can be as all consuming as any other obsession, only a little more dangerous.

After struggling with it for 14 years and almost dying from it, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

As for anorexia being the female Asperger's, eh. I have AS and I was also anorexic. My problems were never about beauty or fashion or how I looked, it was more an external representation of internal struggle. I could not effectively communicate, between my AS and the unwillingness of those around me to listen. I was often punished, seen as the bad kid because I didn't or couldn't listen, do things on time, etc. As I wasted away, it was metaphor in a manner of speaking. "I'm already broken, stop trying to break me more." I thought that they way I was seen could be changed if I manipulated my external appearance. That manipulation became an obsession of weighing, counting, exercising, calorie burning, and self-punishment and starvation. It was a nightmare.

As western media, especially TV and fashion mags, pops up in other countries where it hadn't been before, the rate of anorexia rises as well. Anorexia may tend to be a co-morbidity with aspergers, but it needs the cultural cues of thin=good to take hold in any personality type.

The anorexics I have crossed paths with have been severe manipulative b*****s so I would vote NO.