Attitudes towards extreme patterns of behavior

Abstract

While the following discussion will explore several different extreme patterns of behavior in comparison to anorexia nervosa, attention will be focused primarily on high-altitude mountaineering. This pattern was selected as it shares many parallels with the disorder while simultaneously highlighting two especially salient and important aspects of anorexia nervosa: high-altitude mountaineering resembles (indeed, exceeds) anorexia nervosa in deadliness and both pursuits are highly influenced by the social contexts within which they exist. Ultrarunning, and to a lesser extent competitive birding, will also be given additional attention in the following discussion as these four extreme behaviors (i.e., anorexia nervosa, competitive birding, high-altitude mountaineering, and ultrarunning) were examined most closely in the present study.