ABSTRACT
Some models emphasize the impact of the socio-cultural level, e.g., the pressure on women to be thin, the subordinate status of women, the cultural tendency to look to food for comfort, and work at helping bulimics reexamine their values and behavior in light of these issues. The models for treating bulimia have emphasized one of these levels while devoting far less attention to the other levels, so treatment approaches have been relatively narrow, and limited. This chapter presents a model that allows theorists and clinicians to shift from one of these levels to another, as needed, because it views all these levels of system as operating according to similar principles and as highly interconnected. It begins by describing the parallels between such a hyper-Americanized bulimic client’s internal life and the values of her family. The most common approach to treating bulimics, however, has focused on some aspect of the individual client’s struggle with herself.
