ABSTRACT
The theoretical conceptualization of self psychology and the ensuing therapeutic implications open up new opportunities for the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). This chapter presents these opportunities and the dilemmas stemming from implementing self psychology, illustrated through clinical vignettes. In particular, the chapter probes into the concept of selfobject and the therapeutic stance it offers for the treatment of eating disordered patients. The extreme fragility of the patient with AN or BN and her tendency to ignore her needs call for a psychotherapeutic approach that does not impose an interpretation from without, but rather seeks to provide attunement from within, from an experience-near stance. Such a stance is well-embodied in Kohut's concept of selfobject.
