Body Image and Eating Disorders
An Anthropological and Psychological Overview

A contemporary, interdisciplinary work that examines some of the most recent eating disorders and body image disorders of Western cultures.

Fabio Gabrielli (Author), Floriana Irtelli (Author)

9781009078030, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 June 2022

200 pages
22.7 x 15 x 0.9 cm, 0.27 kg

'This book provides nuanced perspectives as the authors interweave their personal and clinical experiences of eating disorders and body image issues with evidence-based research into a text for advanced readers … Recommended.' C. Hauff, Choice

One of the paradoxes of our current era is that only 10% of obese or overweight people are actually dieting, whereas nearly 20% of the remaining population are trying to lose weight, even if they do not need to. This volume looks into our contemporary relationship with food by inserting current body image and eating disorders, like orthorexia and bigorexia, into a broader, historical overview. Gabrielli and Irtelli combine their knowledge of psychoanalysis and anthropology with scientific research and clinical experience to create this truly interdisciplinary work. Their study uses psychoanalytical theories about our 'hyper-modern' times to trace the impact that mass media has on individuals, families and societies. It explores various 'food tribes' and exposes the contradictions of today's mass media that advertise fitness and dieting alongside increasingly tastier and accessible foods. The work helps us to understand our highly social relationship with our bodies and what we eat.

Part I. Contemporary Perspectives in Anthropology, Philosophy, and Psychology on the Human Body: An Introductory Overview: 1. The conception of the human body: An evolutionary study from ancient times to the hypermodern era
Part II. Brain Without Body, Body Without Brain, and Contemporary Body Image Disorders: 2. Body schema, body image, and hypermodern alterations
3. Alexithymia and somatizations
4. The myth of the perfect body image, body dysmorphic disorder, and bigorexia
5. The complex relationship between the mind, the body, and the contemporary environment
Part III. A Specific Analysis: The Hypermodern Contradictory Relationship With Food: 6. Contemporary social trends regarding food: paradoxes and food tribes
7. Orthorexia
8. Contemporary perspectives on eating disorders
9. Nervous bulimia and binge eating disorder: A contemporary overview
10. Contemporary on obesity
Part IV. Which Possible Horizons? Some Final Considerations: 11. Body image, narcissims, and depression
12. The global process of psycho-bodily development.

Subject Areas: Coping with eating disorders [VFJJ], Eating disorders & therapy [MMZD], Clinical psychology [MMJ], Health psychology [MBNH9]