Controlling the Noise: A Phenomenological Account of Anorexia Nervosa and the Threatening Body

Abstract

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a complex disorder characterised by selfstarvation, an act of self-destruction. It is often described as a disorder marked by paradoxes and, despite extensive research attention, is still not well understood.Much AN research focuses upon the distorted body image that individuals with AN supposedly experience. However, based upon reports from individuals describing their own experience of AN, I argue that their bodily experience is much more complex than this focus might lead us to believe. Such research often presents an overly cognitive understanding of bodily experience in AN, underplaying the affective, felt experience of individuals with AN, as well as descriptions of empowerment, strength and control reported in the early stages of AN. This paper seeks to enrich our understanding of bodily experience in AN as it progresses throughout the various stages of the disorder. I show how the classical phenomenological distinction between the body-as-subject and the body-as-object, as well as Leder's conception of the visceral body, can inform our understanding of bodily experience in AN. I suggest that the project of self-starvation is an attempt to overcome the noisy demands of the visceral body, which are experienced as threatening the body-as-subject, through a process of objectifying the body-asobject. By cashing out AN as a project of radical bodily control that, tragically, comes to control the individual, we can capture important aspects of the bodily experience of AN and the temporal progression of the disorder.

ProAna Worlds: Affectivity and Echo Chambers Online

“…While we have explored how interpersonal communities can help uphold and sustain particular values, beliefs, and practices associated with AN, both epistemically and affectively, we want to stress that our account should not be read as suggesting that AN is a disorder of faulty thinking or beliefs alone. Elsewhere, we have stressed that AN is a bodily disorder and that understanding how an individual experiences their body is necessary for understanding AN (Krueger and Osler 2020 ; Osler 2021a ). We see our discussion here as complementary to this embodied approach to AN, as providing another layer of texture to our understanding of complex disorder; in particular, as providing a dynamic intersubjective dimension that is often overlooked.…”

“…So, visiting ProAna sites does not just cement and inoculate epistemic beliefs about AN but also helps motivate and sustain disordered eating practices . Indeed, ProAna communities often work as active and dynamic scaffolds for such practices, with members offering each other support and encouragement for sticking to the “project” of AN (Osler 2021a ). 5 As one user emphasises: “Being ana is hard.…”

“…Cash and Pruzinsky 2004 ), how one experiences one’s body (e.g. Fuchs 2021 ; Legrand 2010 ; Osler 2021a , b ; Rodemeyer 2021 ), and so on. Where other people come into the picture is typically at the level of causation.…”

Anorexia nervosa: Illusion in the sense of agency

“…Even with the help of qualitative studies, however, typifying the anorexic experience is complicated by the fact that it tends to progress in stages (cf. Osler, 2020; Warin, 2004). There are two stages of AN that are relevant to the present account, and for the sake of simplicity I will be referring to them as the “pre‐awareness” and “post‐awareness” stages.…”

Experiences of Silence in Mood Disorders

“…Cregan, 2020: 219). Plausibly, peaceful silences may be pursued by people with other types of disorders as well (seeOsler, 2021).…”