Eating Disorders 237shaping the person, “so that when that person meets the possibility of being
anorexic she clasps it to her emaciated breast and makes it her own” (Dare
and Crowther, 1995b, p. 126).
The symbolic meaning of symptoms
The symptoms of eating disorders have been analyzed as being symbolic-
ally meaningful for the sufferer. Some work in this field has explored the
interrelationship between the symptoms of eating disorders and aspects of
sexuality. For example, vomiting has been considered an attempt to elim-
inate the unwanted penis of a traumatic sexual experience, fear of fatness
has been analyzed as a rejection of pregnancy, and extreme thinness has
been assessed as representing actual fear of death. Other theories address
the meaning of food and hunger with an emphasis on control. For example,
Dare and colleagues (Sandler and Dare, 1970; Dare and Crowther, 1995b)
argued that hunger reflects greed to the anorexic. They suggested that hunger
is seen as an “invincible intrusive force” which must be resisted and that
the more it is resisted the more it becomes desired and subsequently the
more it is feared. Some theories also address the function of an eating
disorder. For example, it has been argued that extreme food restriction func-
tions to increase a sense of personal effectiveness by bringing about success
in the area of food avoidance; and that weight loss functions to avoid the
onset of sexuality by dieting away those aspects of the body associated with
sexual functioning (Bruch, 1965, 1974). From a psychoanalytic perspective
the avoidance of food has two central meanings. First, it says, “This is an area
in which I am in control.” Second, it says, “I am only a little child, I cannot
live by myself, I have to be looked after” (Dare and Crowther, 1995b, p. 135).
The role of childhood
Some psychoanalytic theories have drawn upon a Freudian analysis of infancy
and childhood. These have suggested that the preoccupation with food
expressed through the preparation of meals for others and the ambivalent
relationship with food reflect the oral sexual energies. More recent for-
mulations of eating disorders have focused on parent–child relationships.
For example, Bruch (1985) argued that children who are brought up to
feel ineffectual may develop anorexia as a way to reestablish power within
the family. Bruch suggested that this ineffectiveness may be particularly
apparent in children whose mothers have anticipated their every need, have
understood when the child was hungry, thirsty, or tired. Children brought
up by apparently “perfect” mothers who are constantly aware of their child’s