The objective of this thesis is to critically examine the diagnostic divisions of eating disorders as proposed within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). I focus on Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, and Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED), although there were several new categories issued in 2013. Using person-centered ethnographic interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and autoethnography, I collected qualitative data to highlight how disordered eaters perceive themselves and their behaviors in relation to their diagnoses. I recruited participants in Boston, MA from Eating Disorders Anonymous (EDA), a decentralized network of support groups for disordered eaters. Subjects in my study, as well as from EDA at large, have a wide variety of diagnoses. Building off anthropologies of the pathological body, embodiment, medicalization and neuroanthropology, I highlight how predominant scripts of mental illness in both popular media and science shape the ways that disordered eaters understand their pathological behaviors. I also examine the historical and contemporary evolution of eating disorder theory within the psychological literature, offering a reflexive approach to the theoretical foundations within the field. Interweaving psychological literature reviews with ethnographic data, I demonstrate that disordered eaters do not fit as straightforwardly into diagnostic categories as presumed. Instead, findings indicate that individuals express different combinations of symptoms that range across diagnostic divisions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USF/oai:scholarcommons.usf.edu:etd-8246 |
| Date | 02 November 2017 |
| Creators | Leff, Channah A. |
| Publisher | Scholar Commons |
| Source Sets | University of South Flordia |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
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