Eating Disorders as Coping Method

Abstract

Stefanie Richter examines the life stories of women with different eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and their combination. She places the perspective of those affected in the center of her analysis. She utilizes four representative cases and elaborates on the prior history, the course of the illness, and the attempts at overcoming the illness as structures of the process. Because of the existing problematic relationship to the body, problems are not solved but instead are carried out through a disturbed eating habit. When those affected are able to activate the resources available to them and to detach themselves from concentrating on problematic eating habits, they have a realistic chance of overcoming the eating disorder.