Finn Skårderud

Mentalising and Eating Disorders: Psychiatry in the Flesh: Embodiment of Troubled Lives Finn Skårderud

Embodiment and mentalising - new perspectives on eating disorders This book focuses on how body and mind might interact in eating disorders, with particular emphasis on anorexia nervosa. It is based on six scientific articles and an extensive discussion. Three of these papers describe how people with anorexia nervosa embody their inner life. Such bodily concretization of emotional life is described as impaired mentalising. Mentalising refers to the competence to understand oneself and others, and is considered as a central psychopathological trait. Mentalising represents a new intellectual framework for the understanding of such disorders. The book also presents an outline for mentalisation-based treatment for anorexia nervosa. A fourth paper describes how shame is central in the psychopathology of persons suffering from anorexia nervosa. A fifth paper is based on research among boys and girls in child care institutions, and concludes with the necessity of increased focus on male experiences. A sixth paper investigates how adapted physical activity can move negative attention from the objectified anorectic body to a more profound experience of oneself and one's body.