Eating Disorders A Contemporary Introduction

This book presents an accessible introduction to the conceptualization and treatment of eating disorders from a psychoanalytic perspective. Each of the chapters offers a different perspective on these difficult-to-treat conditions and taken together, illustrate the breadth and depth that psychoanalytic thinking can offer both seasoned clinicians as well as those just beginning to explore the field. Different aspects of how psychoanalytic theory and practice can engage with eating disorders are addressed, including mobilizing its nuanced developmental theories to illustrate the difficulties these patients have with putting feelings into words, the loathing that they feel towards their bodies, the disharmonies they experience in the link between body and mind, and even the ways that they engage with online Internet forums. This is an accessible read for clinicians at the start of their career and will also be a useful, novel take on the subject for experienced practitioners.

Introduction, 1. Alexithymia and the Psychic Elaboration of Emotion, 2. Early Relationships, Object Relations and Traumatic Themes, 3. Traumatic Themes, Repetition, and Mourning, 4. Abjection and Bodily Disgust, 5. Body-Mind Dissociation and False Bodies, 6. Gender, Culture, and Desire, 7. Affect Regulation, Dissociation, and Body Imaginings, 8. The Role of the Father and the Paternal Function, 9. Eating Disorders in Cyberspace

Tom Wooldridge is an associate professor of psychology, psychoanalyst, and board-certified, licensed psychologist. He has published numerous journal articles on a range of topics as well as several books.