ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the way in which eating disorders are classified in current psychiatric manuals. The overwhelming majority of those who suffer from eating disorders being women, it focuses on the gender aspect of this issue. Surveying the history of the field, it identifies the point at which eating disorders were first defined as a psychiatric disorder, critically analysing the aetiology proposed in the professional literature. The nature and character of eating disorders are exemplified in the accounts of some of the women who participated in the study.
