A very interesting article which helps to put Bulimia in context.

Abstract:
Disturbances in the development of the self have been identified as important factors that contribute to the formation and persistence of eating disorders. Thus, they are an important focus for intervention to promote attitudinal and behavioral change.

In her early theoretical work, Hilde Bruch argued that anorexia nervosa (AN) is caused by the failure to develop a diverse set of identities or self-definitions.1, 2 Highly controlling and perfectionistic parenting was believed to limit the child’s opportunities to function autonomously and to interfere with development of a clear and richly elaborated self. Bruch suggested that the adolescent turns to body weight as a viable source of self-definition and as a means of compensating for the lack of a clear identity and for associated feelings of powerlessness and incompetence. From this perspective, the adolescent’s fixation on body weight and exaggerated desire to be thin are a maladaptive way of coping with identity deficits and of striving for a sense of self-definition, competence, and control.

Read the rest of the article here:

Disturbances in the Self: A Source of Eating Disorders

Source: Disturbances in the Self: A Source of Eating Disorders