Lives of the Unconscious

“You are what you eat.” We are continuously negotiating our identity through food, setting the boundaries of the self. Inscribed into the symptoms of anorexia is an unconscious conflict of identity, which has something to do with one’s own longings and cravings, with a hunger for the other. In psychodynamic therapies, these longings become part of the therapeutic exchange, while also leading to a characteristic dilemma.