Psychological effects of starvation

Through several reports and studies, scientists have discovered that starvation has many psychological effects on a person, in addition to its physiological effects. The most extensive and informative study on starvation's psychological effects is called the Minnesota Starvation-Rehabilitation Experiment, which was carried out from 1944-1946. The subjects of this experiment were thirty-two fully informed volunteers, ages twenty to thirty-three.


Subjects experienced three phases of the experiment: twelve weeks of control period, twenty four weeks of semistarvation, and then twelve weeks of rehabilitation. During the control experiments the subjects were given 3,492 calories, during the period of semistarvation the calories were decreased to 1,570, and during the period of rehabilitation they were re-increased to normal levels. During the period of semistarvation, subjects were fed foods most likely consumed in European famine areas. The results of the starvation experiment were tested in many ways.


According to Josef Brozek, author of Psychology of Human Starvation and Nutritional Rehabilitation, studies "ranged from intelligence and personality tests through ratings to purely descriptive material, provided by the experimenters' notes and diaries kept by the subjects". According to subjects of the semistarvation experiment, tiredness was the worst effect of the low calorie intake, followed by appetite, muscle soreness, irritability, apathy, sensitivity to noise, and hunger pain. Standard personality tests revealed that the starving individuals experienced a large rise in the "neurotic triad" -- hypochondriasis, depression, and hysteria. Also, the subjects of the experiment noticed a marked decrease in the drive for activity, and a remarkable decrease in sex drive.

In peer evaluations, other experiment subjects noted great changes in subjects' personalities during the period of semistarvation.; In interviews years later, subjects reported that they felt that they had not returned to normal by the end of the three month recovery period. Subjects' own estimates of the time it took for recovery ranged from two months to two years. Many subjects reported that they grossly overate and put on fat after the experiment due to the urge to eat.
149 Biochemistry