Trauma is a word that’s thrown around a lot. And the idea that trauma and ED’s are connected is pretty known… but WHY are they connected, and what connects them? 

 

Heather is a clinical social worker and psychoanalyst with a private practice in NYC. She’s also an eating disorder and trauma expert. She is faculty and a supervisor at The Institute for Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity; The National Institute for Psychotherapies; and The Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Certificate Program in Trauma Studies. She’s also a review editor for Psychoanalysis, Self and Context and she’s written about eating disorders from a self psychological, relational, and neurobiological perspective (if those words mean anything to you). 

 

A lot of her work has inspired and informed the talks and webinars I’ve given. She’s written academic papers for decades and I love her work. To be honest, her works are some of my favorites when it comes to eating disorders and psychoanalysis. So consider us real lucky to have her join us here. 

Tweetable Quotes

“The eating disorder became a self-management tool, a self-regulating tool, a strategy to manage states of hyperarousal and anxiety, to have a sense of efficacy and control.” –Heather Ferguson, LCSW

 

“Most of us with a psychoanalytic frame of mind think about eating disorders serving both functions, that is, they can both downregulate and soothe the nervous system, but it can also be self-harming and self-punishing.” – Heather Ferguson, LCSW

 

“That’s part of what gets mapped around trauma – ‘I’m bad, I deserve punishment.’ It’s illogical, it’s sort of how the psyche makes sense of this – that you are the bad one, and you somehow induce the traumatic event.” – Heather Ferguson, LCSW

 

“The eating disorder in a way can be a window into understanding the trauma.” – Heather Ferguson, LCSW 

Resources: 

Heather’s Website

 

Heather’s email: [email protected] 

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