Authenticity and the Stimulated Self: Neurosurgery for Anorexia Nervosa

Müller and colleagues (2015) address a range of ethical considerations associated with neurosurgical interventions for the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN), arguing for several protective measures to safeguard clinical research and practice. This is an important article, which provides a thorough review of current neurosurgical research and presents key insights into challenges associated with compromised decision-making capacities in the context of AN and the early average age of onset. However, it is somewhat striking that they neither use nor examine the concept of authenticity. We describe the way this concept features in discussions of AN, and suggest that a deeper understanding of authenticity reveals further ethical problems that Müller and colleagues do not consider.