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Starvation as self-preservation
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
Starvation as self-preservation
SubTitle
the paradoxical nature of anorexia nervosa through the lens of schizoid phenomena
TitleInfo
(type = alternative)
Title
Paradoxical nature of anorexia nervosa through the lens of schizoid phenomena
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Dehler
NamePart
(type = given)
Lauren Courtney
NamePart
(type = date)
1982-
DisplayForm
Lauren Dehler
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
author
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Sass
NamePart
(type = given)
Louis
DisplayForm
Louis Sass
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
chair
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Skean
NamePart
(type = given)
Karen
DisplayForm
Karen Skean
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
school
TypeOfResource
Text
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(qualifier = exact)
2012
DateOther
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2012-05
CopyrightDate
(qualifier = exact)
2012
Place
PlaceTerm
(type = code)
xx
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO639-2b);
(type = code)
eng
Abstract
(type = abstract)
Anorexia nervosa is a disorder that affects millions in the United States and has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, estimated at or above 10%. The majority of sufferers are female, though the number of male cases continues to increase. The current study seeks to explore and interpret the internal experiences of females with anorexia through the lens of British object-relations theories regarding schizoid phenomena. This dissertation offers a review of the current clinical and psychoanalytic literature on female anorexia, as well as current empirical findings. There is also a summary of the theories of Guntrip and Laing on schizoid mechanisms, along with a discussion of psychological aspects of modernity as discussed by Sass and Bordo. This study utilizes published memoirs of women in recovery from anorexia, and through narrative inquiry methodology explores the hypothesis that anorexia is an attempt to alleviate and resolve schizoid concerns. In the analyses, thirteen themes emerge that capture the paradoxical nature of anorexia, in which the sufferer engages in a process of destructive self-preservation. Central to these findings is a self-annihilating narcissism that describes the internal experiences of preoccupation and self-loathing within the sufferer, as well as a desire to become a person without needs and without a body. These are shown to provide a protective boundary between the internal self and the external world. In an attempt to assert a sense of self through starvation, the sufferer exists in a state between being and non-being, which often leads to serious medical complications and sometimes death. Lastly, these paradoxical themes tie into literature on the schizoid condition, which provides insight into the contradictory experiences of anorexia. The splitting that occurs in anorexia between an inner self and a body self appears to parallel the splitting within the schizoid, which protects the person against fears of annihilation, engulfment, implosion, and petrification by the other.
Subject
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Clinical Psychology
RelatedItem
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Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
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ETD
Identifier
ETD_4052
PhysicalDescription
Form
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electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
v, 178 p.
Note
(type = degree)
Psy.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Lauren Courtney Dehler
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Anorexia nervosa--Patients
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Eating disorders in women
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Self-preservation
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Anorexia
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Women--Psychology
Identifier
(type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001800001.ETD.000065347
RelatedItem
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TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore10001800001
Location
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(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3TD9W8F
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Dehler
GivenName
Lauren
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact);
(point = start)
2012-04-29 23:18:04
AssociatedEntity
Name
Lauren Dehler
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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