Consuming Passions: Groups for Women with Eating Problems

Abstract

This is an account of time-limited focal group-analytic therapy for women with bulimia and compulsive eating problems in an all-women context at the Women's Therapy Centre, London. Eating problems are understood within the context of the early mother-daughter relationship and there is an account of how these dynamics are played out within the groups. The authors describe their understanding of transference and countertransference phenomena and the use of metaphors to achieve a process of translation from the concrete language of food, eating and the body to the language of feelings and relationships. They demonstrate how homogeneous groups for these women provide the opportunity for them to see their difficulties reflected in others, thereby enabling them to make the link between their relationship with food and the body and their internalized objects. Throughout the article there is an attempt to locate the work within a social context.