Holy Anorexia

HOLY ANOREXIA Author: Rudolph M. Bell Number of Pages: 260 pages Published Date: 15 Jun 1987 Publisher: The University of Chicago Press Publication Country: Chicago, IL, United States Language: English ISBN: 9780226042053 DOWNLOAD: HOLY ANOREXIA Two times reading this, I have come to the conclusion which I admit that Rudolph M. Bell has done his research and is a good writer but I can't just appreciate this as academical nonfiction. The case basically is that Bell applies the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa to medieval women saints' who starved themselves to be more connected to their religion and feel more pure. Convenient, yes, but in no way it is a good thing to use a modern diagnosis to the time where anything like that existed. The medieval culture didn't have the same obsession to body image and thin bodies and while it is almost impossible to find a short answer why asceticism and self-starving happened, I don't think that it was in any case near what anorexia nervosa is nowadays. Long story short, good in writing sense but I ca't get past of the anachronistic tendencies. Mettere in parallelo storia e analisi psicologica. Le testimonianze delle vitae delle sante agiografiche certo ma non solo e quel disturbo dellalimentazione che si chiama anoressia. Bell ne analizza di queste vitae, di sante italiane su un arco di tempo che va dal XIII al XVIII secolo, di alcune di esse per ogni periodo storico ci propone un'analisi dettagliata. D'altronde non avevano altro. Apr 14, Jay Wright rated it really liked it. I feel like he sometimes stretches his argument, and he definitely overlooks a few things, but overall this is a lot of fun and hot damn Catholics are really just like that. Feb 28, Kelli Peters rated it liked it. Rudolph Bells work Holy Anorexia examines womens quest for liberation and autonomy through the process of self-starvation and flagellation. Bell argues that women resisted patriarchal domination at home and in the church by forging a place for themselves as holy heroines. Rudolph Bells immense undertaking in Holy Anorexia demonstrates a successful psychohistorical approach to individual and group trends amongst religious women in the thirteenth century on the Italian Peninsula. Bell draws from hagiographies, confessions, and a variety of other sources to make determinations about the psyche of female saints. Bell argues that through this evidence, he is able to reflect the ideas pertinent during the time and analyze the larger group trend of anorexia. Apr 14, Emma rated it it was ok. Some of these women practiced more intense fasting, known as anorexia mirabilis. Many women would notoriously refuse all food except for the Eucharist, symbolizing their devotion to God and Jesus and demonstrating the separation of body and spirit. They believed that the body existing without nourishment demonstrated how much more important the spirit was. Lori Champman, Make bucks every month… Start doing online computer-based work through our website. It worked for a time, but she finally convinced everyone that, since food would kill her in any case, better she should just die of starvation. She became ill and stopped eating almost completely after being widowed at age Even when she was still able to chew, she chose not to. Margherita da Cortona was renowned for her great beauty. It was said that even her terrible abuse of her body and self-starvation did not detract from her charm. She never married, but lived with a lover for nine years and bore him a son. The members of her Dominican order who still revere her for her spirituality and moral courage would, I think, argue that she made far more of her life than the abbess with whom Mr. Cohn compares her unfavorably. I did no such thing. The title Holy Anorexia is accurate: it is a study of one kind of anorexia. So, in addition to the Tastelife course, the charity runs training programmes for church representatives who are equipped to return to their communities and deliver the course. One of those trained is Jo, who attended the Tastelife course as a sufferer before eventually becoming a course leader. Her eating disorder stemmed from a lifetime of carefully controlling her weight on health grounds, having been diagnosed with renal damage in childhood. As someone who has perfectionist tendencies, this was unbearable; and so I turned to controlling food and my weight. It seemed so logical at the time. I began by wanting the chair to swallow me whole, but, as I listened, and observed, I started to understand what had happened to me. It was also the catalyst for going to my GP and receiving help there, too. The next Tastelife training session for leaders is on April and October. Visit www. Anorexia mirabilis has in many ways, both similarities to and clear distinctions from the more modern, well-known " anorexia nervosa ". In anorexia nervosa, people usually starve themselves to attain a level of thinness, as the disease is associated with body image distortion. In contrast, anorexia mirabilis was frequently coupled with other ascetic practices, such as lifelong virginity , flagellant behavior, the donning of hairshirts , sleeping on beds of thorns, and other assorted penitential practices. It was largely a practice of Catholic women, who were often known as "miraculous maids". The anorexia nervosa of the 20th century has historical correlates in the religiously inspired cases of anorexia mirabilis in female saints, such as Catherine of Siena — in whom fasting denoted female holiness or humility and underscored purity. The investigation of anorexia nervosa in the 20th century has focused on the psychological, physiological, and various other factors. For Caroline Walker Bynum Holy Feast and Holy Fast , anorexia mirabilis , rather than misdiagnosed anorexia, was a legitimate form of self-expression with motives set in contrast to the modern disease paradigm. She considers cases such as that of Julian of Norwich and other Christian anchorites, as using fasting as a legitimate means for communing with Christ. Joan Jacobs Brumberg Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa suggests that anorexia mirabilis no longer exists not because the motives of those who starve themselves have changed, but because the paradigms for coding these behaviors have shifted. If a young woman were to make the decision to self-starve as a means to communicate with Christ, healthcare professionals would code her as anorexia nervosa regardless of her motives. Implicit throughout this analysis of holy anorexia is the underlying question as to its relationship to anorexia nervosa. Bell summarizes as follows : My purpose in exploring the dimensions of holy anorexia is not to place a modern label on Bell, in his book Holy Anorexia , relates the disease to religious impulses of medieval nuns, who believed starvation to be a form of purification. Parry- Jones describes references in the literature as far back as ancient Greece and Contrastand comparison ofbehavioral, cognitive-behavioral, and comprehensive treatment methods for anorexia nervosa Holy Anorexia. Chicago: University ofChicago Press. Deutsch, H. Anorexia nervosa. Author : Rudolph M. Rudolph M. Bell suggests that the answer is yes. It will make you realize how dependent upon culture the definition of disease is. I will never look at an anorexic patient in the same way again. Bullough, American Historical Review "A significant contribution to revisionist history, which re-examines events in light of feminist thought. Bell is particularly skillful in describing behavior within its time and culture, which would be bizarre by today's norms, without reducing it to the pathological. His book is impressively researched, easy to read, and utterly fascinating..

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