The Fear of Facing Drives and Desires: Is It Still Appropriate to Reduce Anorexia and Bulimia to Eating Disorders?

Abstract

This paper reflects a perspective the author has developed over twenty years of practice as a clinical psychoanalyst and as an academic researcher in the field of eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia are discussed through the lens of psychoanalytic theory, with the support of empirical evidence in clinical psychology research. The author proposes a new way to consider anorexic and bulimic pathology, assigning primary importance to drive repression and object avoidance and stimulating reflections on the phobic-obsessive displacement onto hunger and food. A brief illustrative vignette is included.