ABSTRACT
In his historical papers that have reviewed the development of the field of eating disorders, Lucas (1981) underscores the need for an integrative approach. He describes six eras wherein controversial data have led to polarized and dogmatic positions. The first, 1868–1914, marks the discovery and acknowledgment of eating disorders in the literature and is titled “the descriptive era.” It is perhaps best described by a student of Charcot's, who comments:
The diagnosis of mental anorexia is extremely simple. It merely requires thought … the history guides you, and every time you find the patient has gone upon a restricted diet, either voluntarily or from some emotional causes, and this has been followed by a loss of psychic ideas of appetite, you can safely assume the existence of mental anorexia, either pure and simple or associated with something [Lucas, 1981, p. 255].
