When the anorexia is talking: Dividing the illness from the patient

The expression “the anorexia talking” is used by professionals involved in eating disorders treatment to describe what they consider to be an intransigent pro-anorexic focus, usually on food and weight, amongst patients. Its use is intended to encourage an anorexic to dislocate what are suggested to be his/her ‘real’ wishes from the anorexia talking; it is therefore founded on a perceived distinction between a patient’s “authentic self” (Tan 2005: 92) and the illness. However, the phrase is used widely in a variety of settings by anorexics as well as by clinicians and in these varied uses “the anorexia talking” takes on and acts out a multiplicity of, often contradictory, meanings. Drawing on participant observation and interview data in both an inpatient eating disorders unit and on pro-anorexia websites, this talk will unpack the contradictions, receptions and manifestations of the phrase; it will explore the implications of “that’s the anorexia talking” for both the personhood and the treatment of the anorexics to whom it is addressed.