Review

Self and self-image

THE ANOREXIC EXPERIENCE
Marilyn Lawrence
Women’s Press, 1995, £8.99

As someone who has suffered (and recovered) from eating disorders this was an interesting book to read. In the six years that I experienced life with an eating disorder I sought help from my GP just once, and this proved to be unsuccessful.

I recovered without the aid of medicine or the numerous self-help books that were around at the time, and therefore had never sat down and tried to understand why me, why was I the one who had problems with food, what made me so different?

This book gave me some of the answers. It is much more than a description of anorexia and the steps to recovery – the author looks at the complex relationship that women have with food, which was fascinating.

Traditionally, women have taken control of food for their family, deciding what to buy and how to cook it. But, while taking control, they often deny themselves the pleasure of eating it: ‘I ought not’ and ‘I really shouldn’t’.

Lawrence goes on to look at eating and weight from a societal point of view: how we see self-indulgence as a sign of moral weakness and self-denial as a good thing, and how social prejudice against ‘fat’ people is comparable to that directed against racial minorities. Society as a whole overvalues thinness and scrutinises the appearance of women.

The media are particularly guilty of this: a female celebrity puts on few pounds (or perhaps isn’t photographed from the best angle) and the tabloids are filled with speculation about her private life. In our culture, a woman needs a firm sense of her own worth to be able to resist the social pressures to be slim.

Lawrence moves on to look specifically at anorexia. An experienced therapist, she describes where anorexia is most likely to occur: in affluent countries where food is plentiful; to young people; females; to the academically bright; and as a response to a crisis about autonomy and independence.

This section of the book focuses on the anorexic’s relationship to her family, particularly to her mother – the relationship is rarely straightforward.

Lawrence goes on to discuss the treatment options for anorexics and discusses the experiences of rehabilitation in a hospital setting, and counselling. The example of a young woman who was hospitalised given in the book is particularly unsettling.

Health care professionals working with sufferers would find this book a great asset. It gives a much more detailed understanding of the triggers for anorexia while acknowledging that no one falls victim to anorexia for the same reasons.

This book afforded me the opportunity to think about my experiences for the first time, and this was difficult. For past/current sufferers and their families, I think this would be a useful book if used in conjunction with counselling – it may well raise issues that are difficult to deal with.