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Hunger Strike or Medical Disorder? Is Anorexia Caught in Our Flawed Dichotomy Between Body and Mind?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2012

Peter Churven
Peter Churven
Affiliation:
Millswyn Clinic, 466 Punt Rd., South Yarra VIC 3141.
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Abstract

From a philosophic perspective on clinical practice, anorexic women and their therapists are at risk of being caught in the dichotomy between mind and body that has characterised Western thought, at least since Descartes. If doctors and patients collude in an obsession over weight and refeeding, arising from this flawed dichotomy, it may lead to flawed treatment. Patients describe eating restriction/going on hunger strike as a desperate attempt to achieve a sense of self that can develop into an addiction to the starving state. The extent to which contemporary treatments address these issues is examined.

Keywords

anorexiafamily therapybody–mind dichotomytreatment philosophy
Type
Articles
Information
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , 01 December 2008 , pp. 184 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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