Resumen de Eating Disorders: Traumatic Context and Interventions
Historically, women's eating disorders have been illustrated with such terms as ‘chlorosis’, ‘neurasthenia’ and ‘hysteria’. Contemporarily, we have seen the increase in eating disorders since the 1970s, possibly correlated with the general phenomenon of cultural gender role change. This has been posited to be attributable to the confusion of the terms 'sex' and 'gender'. Sex, or that which is biological, is seen to be either female or male, while gender, or that which is socially given, is masculine or feminine. This traumatic bifurcation implicitly involves a cultural dualism. The theoretical consideration of eating disorders has been likened to the crystallization of culture, with three cultural axes: the dualist axis, control axis, and the gender/power axis. Dualism can be thought of as a denied dependency on a subordinated or traumatized other. Within this frame, human existence is bifurcated into two territories or substances: that of the body and materiality, as delimited from that of the mental and spiritual. The body is that which must be escaped from, a prison and an enemy with which to struggle. In this battle, thinness represents a triumph of the will over the body. The control axis is informed by the experience of one's hungers as being out of control. One's ability to ignore hunger and pain are evidence of one's control over one's own body, often the only control one experiences. The gender/power axis is informed by the experience of one's ‘female’ portions of one's body, usually at menarche, as a disgusting appropriation of one's body by fat. These symptoms can be seen as an unconscious protest at the limitations of the traditional female role. Successful interventions with eating disorders will take into account these intersecting factors. The range of current treatment interventions in consideration of the traumatic context will be discussed.
