The purpose of this study was to examine the governing scripts in the lives of women with
eating disorders via narrative analysis. Interviews were conducted with 5 women with eating
disorders (EDs), whose ages ranged from 27 years to 36 years. An average of two interviews per
participant took place, with each interview being recorded and transcribed. The interviews
centred around early recollections (ERs) and dream reports, which were gathered in the context
of their life-stories. The participants were recruited from private counselling practices,
psychiatric practices, and family practices, and were considered suitable for the study if they
expressed an interest in participating in the study, and their attending therapist or doctor was
satisfied they fit the DSM-1V (APA, 1994) criteria for an eating disorder.
Tomkins' (1979, 1987, 1991) script theory provided the theoretical underpinnings to the
research, with Carlson's (1981, 1986) script-theoretic analysis as the primary methodological
tool. Alexander's (1988) method of accessing scripts via principal identifiers of salience was
used in conjunction with script-theoretic analysis when applicable. The ERs were examined for
evidence of the nuclear scene, followed by analysis of the life-stories and dream stories for
magnifications of the nuclear scene in the form of analogs and anti-analogs.
The results showed the following commonalities: a) that a story of perceived loss of the
parent or parental figure was at the heart of each nuclear scene, with the script threading through
each woman's life as a theme of "longing for mother" or "a quest for love"; b) that the nuclear
script was profoundly reactivated at the time of the development of each participant's ED; c) a
family "no talk" rule about negative feelings and traumatic events; d) participants had difficult
relationships with their mothers; e) a perception of home as unsafe, manifested in a recurring
nightmare from childhood; f) participants responded to stress in their homes by adopting the
personality of the "perfect girl" according to family values; g) body-image/self-image
disturbances predated the eating disorder; and h) that traditional gender-roles and attitudes
towards women were present in all the families in varying ways. More narrative research of the
lives of women with EDs is needed to confirm and support these findings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6678 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Goldswain, Susan M. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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