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Lost for Words
Anorexics and bulimics are often lost for words. Most are women. They feel they have no way to communicate effectively. They have not found the words to express and name the turmoil of their experience to themselves or others. This leaves them in a world where neither food nor words can provide nourishment and sustenance. This book explores the nature of anorexia and bulimia, paying particular attention to the issues of mortality and the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship. It stresses the importance for technique of understanding the violent and agonising nature of these individuals' inner worlds.
104 pages, Paperback
Published May 17, 2001
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March 5, 2024
PSYCHOANALYTIC ACCOUNT OF EATING DISORDERS (review contains mention of disorders though no symptom-related details aside from a disclaimer on outdated weight-requirements in anorexia)
Psychoanalytic examination of both anorexia and bulimia. Farrell focuses primarily on EDs as dealing with pre-sexual wounds, rather than accounts that focus on the Oedipal explanations (though they are still mentioned).
The main argument seems to be that in eating disorders, the body is a site for individuation that has been previously denied to a subject. The mother-daughter relationship is of particular interest--Farrell sees the E.D. analysand as having a pervasive feeling of being misunderstood by the mother, often being treated as an intermediate object.
Food is an invasion of the subject, much like an analyst's attempts to treat the E.D. analysand. Farrell writes, "...many bulimics and anorexics can talk away happily and give the appearance of making progress, whereas they are often unconsciously being the intermediate object for the therapist, who feels good about the work..." which, by mirroring the analyst's fantasy to them, the E.D. analysand is able to remain unknown.
***NOTE: Given the age of the book, anorexia is defined as low-weight (below 15% of normal weight is the criteria used). This outdated classification doesn't seem to have too severe of implications transferring it to so-called 'atypical' anorexia--i.e. I think most of what Farrell writes is still applicable to 'atypical' anorexia, if we are to assume the desire to be increasingly thin holds across BMI classifications of anorexics. Furthermore, men with anorexia or bulimia are not addressed specifically, so it is unclear how Farrell's account maps onto them. Certain things can't map on, such as the mother-daughter relationship. I would guess these are, beyond the common beliefs and premises at time of publication, at least in part due to the lack of research into normal or high BMI anorexia and eating disorders in non-women.
Psychoanalytic examination of both anorexia and bulimia. Farrell focuses primarily on EDs as dealing with pre-sexual wounds, rather than accounts that focus on the Oedipal explanations (though they are still mentioned).
The main argument seems to be that in eating disorders, the body is a site for individuation that has been previously denied to a subject. The mother-daughter relationship is of particular interest--Farrell sees the E.D. analysand as having a pervasive feeling of being misunderstood by the mother, often being treated as an intermediate object.
Food is an invasion of the subject, much like an analyst's attempts to treat the E.D. analysand. Farrell writes, "...many bulimics and anorexics can talk away happily and give the appearance of making progress, whereas they are often unconsciously being the intermediate object for the therapist, who feels good about the work..." which, by mirroring the analyst's fantasy to them, the E.D. analysand is able to remain unknown.
***NOTE: Given the age of the book, anorexia is defined as low-weight (below 15% of normal weight is the criteria used). This outdated classification doesn't seem to have too severe of implications transferring it to so-called 'atypical' anorexia--i.e. I think most of what Farrell writes is still applicable to 'atypical' anorexia, if we are to assume the desire to be increasingly thin holds across BMI classifications of anorexics. Furthermore, men with anorexia or bulimia are not addressed specifically, so it is unclear how Farrell's account maps onto them. Certain things can't map on, such as the mother-daughter relationship. I would guess these are, beyond the common beliefs and premises at time of publication, at least in part due to the lack of research into normal or high BMI anorexia and eating disorders in non-women.
Displaying 1 of 1 review