Medical Discourse on Body Image Reconceptualizing the Differences between Women with and without Eating Disorders

In recent years, the connection between body image and eating problems has been examined extensively, especially in psychiatric and medical research (Bruch 1962,1973,1978,1982; Gordon 1990; Hsu 1990; le Grange, Tibbs, and Noakes 1994; Striegel-Moore et al. 1990; Thomas and James 1988; Thorton, Leo, and Alberg 1991). The institution of medicine has been particularly influential regarding this connection because it has constructed definitions of what constitutes an “abnormal” or “distorted” body image, and has brought these definitions to bear on the diagnosis and treatment of anorexia nervosa.