Where Did Anorexia Stereotypes Come From?

Where Did Anorexia Stereotypes Come From?

While many symptoms of anorexia don’t have medical explanations yet, this doesn’t mean they aren’t real. Educating the public about medical explanations for the disorder could reduce the stigma of the condition and help reduce its stigma. Key points Anorexia was first considered a type of hysteria.

Anorexia and Hysteria: A Shared History

Before modern medicine, unexplained women’s behaviors and illnesses were diagnosed as hysteria.

Psychosomatic Disorder

A psychosomatic disorder is a condition where observed physical symptoms don’t have medical explanations.

Medical Explanations for Psychosomatic Symptoms in Anorexia

Alexithymia is a personality trait that makes it difficult to identify our feelings, describe what other people are feeling, and to think imaginatively.

Separating Anorexia from Hysteria

Psychiatry asylums played a role in anorexia being recognized as its own medical condition separate from hysteria

Conclusions

Despite slowly finding medical explanations for anorexia since the 1800s, misconceptions about its legitimacy as an illness remain

Modern Misconception

Since the mid-1800s, we’ve gained a deeper understanding of why anorexia develops, but its early associations with hysteria have been difficult to escape

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