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Is Anorexia Truly a Contemporary Disease
Is Anorexia Truly a Contemporary Disease
Is Anorexia Truly a Contemporary Disease
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Université Catholique de Louvain, Psychosomatics Unit, Mont-Godinne University Hospital, Yvoir, Belgium
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Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is reported to be on the rise. However, instances of fasting have been noted since antiquity.
Can modern diagnoses be applied to circumstances very different from our own? Is there a continuum of symptoms whose meanings
have evolved over centuries, or is AN a recent development?
Subjects and methods: A literature review was conducted. Twelve articles were found to be pertinent to the study, including
several by Jacques Maître, who also published a book on the subject that was utilized.
Results: Few instances of fasting and no deaths from AN are reported in Western antiquity. With the advent of Christianity,
prolonged fasting appears in the West. From the 12th century onwards, food deprivation becomes significant in women’s spiritual
lives, reaching a peak in inedia until the Renaissance. In 1873, Lasègue and Gull published a medical description of AN. Thereafter,
AN fluctuated between being a distinct pathology and a symptom of another syndrome. Long considered a hysterical symptom, Freud
initiated a shift toward sexual causality. In 1914, hypophyseal atrophy was considered a cause but was later forgotten. World War II
did not produce instances of AN; food refusal has meaning only when food is abundant. During times of imposed famine, women’s
roles in food management and corpulence are valorized. In the 1960s, attention shifted to body image and an inability to cope with
pubertal changes. Today, Russell describes a change in patient profiles with increased fear of weight gain and reduced fear of
sexualization.
Conclusion: Two opposing theses emerge. On one hand, it is argued that mystical fasts and AN cannot be linked and that AN is a
recent disorder. Modern society subjects us to greater social pressures, forcing women to deny their biological roles in pursuit of
thinness. On the other hand, AN is considered the heir to mystical fasting, as part of women's attempts to escape societal roles.
Hagiographic descriptions and psychoanalytic studies that highlight the unconscious dynamics between mother-daughter
relationships and pubertal difficulties support this view.
Key words: history of anorexia - anorexia + Antiquity - anorexia + Middle Ages - anorexia + Renaissance - anorexia + 20th Century
6
Carole Jassogne, Denis Jacques, Thomas Dubois & Nicolas Zdanowicz: IS ANOREXIA TRULY A CONTEMPORARY DISEASE?
Psychiatria Danubina, 2023; Vol. 35, Suppl. 3, pp 24-28
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Carole Jassogne, Denis Jacques, Thomas Dubois & Nicolas Zdanowicz: IS ANOREXIA TRULY A CONTEMPORARY DISEASE?
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Carole Jassogne, Denis Jacques, Thomas Dubois & Nicolas Zdanowicz: IS ANOREXIA TRULY A CONTEMPORARY DISEASE?
Psychiatria Danubina, 2023; Vol. 35, Suppl. 3, pp 24-28
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UHOLJLRXV IDVWLQJ $1 ZRXOG EH WKH KHLU WR WKHVH conception and design, and/or acquisition of data,
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LGHDOV ZRXOG PHUHO\ EH D SUHWH[W WR UHDFWLYDWH WKH
GLVRUGHU7KHSOHDVXUHLQSK\VLFDOVXIIHULQJSUHYLRXVO\ 1. Albert JP & Caroline Bynum: Jeûnes et festins sacrés.
IRXQGLQUHOLJLRXVDVFHWLFSUDFWLFHVZRXOGEHLQYHVWHG Les femmes et la nourriture dans la spiritualité
LQ ERG\ FRQWURO LQ WKH SOHDVXUH RI KXQJHU 'HWDLOHG médiévale. Revue de l’histoire et des religions 1995;
214:373-377
KDJLRJUDSKLF GHVFULSWLRQV RIWHQ UHSHDW IHDWXUHV WKDW
2. Albert JP: Jacques Maître, mystique et féminité. Essai de
ZRXOG FXUUHQWO\ DOORZ IRU DQ $1 GLDJQRVLV K\SHU psychanalyse sociohistorique. Clio 2002; 15:222-224
DFWLYLW\ IHHGLQJ RWKHUV ZLWKRXW HDWLQJ VHYHUH ZHLJKW 3. Bemporad JR: Self starvation through the ages: reflec-
ORVV YRPLWLQJ HWF $PHQRUUKHD LV KRZHYHU QHYHU tions on the pre-history of anorexia nervosa. Interna-
PHQWLRQHGFDXVLQJJUHDWGLIILFXOWLHVIRUSRVWKRFGLDJ tional Journal of eating disorders 1996; 19:217-237
QRVHV 5HFHQWO\ DPHQRUUKHD KDV EHHQ UHPRYHG IURP 4. Bemporad JR: Cultural and historical aspects of eating
WKH GLDJQRVWLF FULWHULD DQG WKH GHVFULSWLRQV QRZ PHHW disorders. Theorical Medicine 1997; 18:401-420
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Carole Jassogne, Denis Jacques, Thomas Dubois & Nicolas Zdanowicz: IS ANOREXIA TRULY A CONTEMPORARY DISEASE?
Psychiatria Danubina, 2023; Vol. 35, Suppl. 3, pp 24-28
5. Dell’Osso L: Historical evolution of the concept of 9. Maître J: Anorexies religieuses Anorexie mentale; essai
anorexia nervosa and relationships with orthorexia, de psychanalyse sociohistorique. Editions du Cerf, 2000
autism and obsessive-compulsive spectrum, 2016 10. Maître J: Anorexies religieuses. Anorexie mentale.
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31:33-39 porain? La clinique lacanienne 2003; 1:139-144
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âge: l’exemple des mystiques pèlerines. Actes des con- rexie mentale. Essai de psychanalyse sociohistorique: de
grès nationaux des sociétés historiques et scientifiques Marie de L’Incarnation à Simone Weil. Laval théo-
2014; 138:229-237 logique et philosophique 2001; 57:388-390
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anorexiques? Femmes et religions; 2/1995 développement, 2015; pp 18-49
Correspondence:
Carole Jassogne, MD
Université Catholique de Louvain, Psychosomatics Unit, Mont-Godinne University Hospital
Rue Dr Gaston Therasse 1, 5530 Yvoir, Belgium
E-mail: carole.jassogne@chuuclnamur.uclouvain.be
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