“you're a whole lot of person”—understanding the journey through anorexia to recovery: A qualitative study

Using the grounded theory method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), this study examined the subjective experience of anorexia nervosa in interviews with 5 women who have experienced symptoms of the disorder. Under the category Relational Anorexia, 2 themes emerged. The first involved the pervasiveness of anorexia among peer groups, and the second involved the continuum along which anorexia exists. The second category, Self Worth, had 3 themes. The first involved thinness as achievement and a means of establishing self worth. The second dealt with both positive and negative male influences in the development and healing of anorexia. The third is related to recovery. Taken together, these responses reveal that anorexia may be largely a relational process that involves a maladaptive desire for self-worth mediated through control of eating and weight, and that the role of the media in promoting an ideal of thinness for women may be only a background factor in the disorder.