ABSTRACT
Debbie was anticipating a two-week business trip to Brazil. Her tone combined anxiety and triumph:
`I'd never have done something like this three years ago; I'd have found an excuse not to go. But then three years ago, I wouldn't stand up to people at work: they'd be walking all over me and I'd end up bingeing and vomiting. And if I did stand up for myself, I'd feel so guilty that I'd still end up with my head over the toilet. Then there'd be the risk that I'd continue the binge on my way home ± probably after I'd been down the pub. Then there'd be the laxatives. . . . And then I'd feel so bloody awful about myself that I'd do some ironing ± and burn myself accidentally on purpose, or get up in the middle of the night and cut. Even thinking about going to Brazil would've terri®ed me: it'll be a boozy trip and the food'll be strange and I'll be meeting lots of new people and Jerome [her colleague] can be a right pain in the bum. But I'm going. . . . Things may get a bit ``hairy'' but that doesn't mean I can't pull it round again.'
