ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors present some ideas and clinical material on the relationship between eating disorders and gender identity development. The configuration of the Oedipus situation strongly influences gender identity development and many other areas of instinctual life, including, of course, the eating of food. The relationship between eating disorders and sexual development has been previously reported in the psychiatric literature, most notably by A. H. Crisp. The authors address the matter from a different perspective—that is, through consideration of case material in which issues of both gender development and an eating disorder were very prominent. They consider the link between the two areas using psychoanalytic ideas, and their clinical material is taken from psychoanalytic psychotherapy with individuals and families. In order to assist the reader's understanding of the case material, the authors describe some of the relevant psychoanalytic concepts.
