ArticleHealth (London, England : 1997)2023
Being and doing anorexia nervosa: An autoethnography of diagnostic identity and performance of illness.
Article in Health (London, England : 1997), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- 'In an otherwise limitless world, I was sure of my limit.'Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Relapse in Eating Disorders: A Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis of Individuals' Experiences.Clinical psychology & psychotherapyPooled it
- Critically Exploring Self-Harm Through Lived Experience Perspectives: A Survivor-Controlled Integrative Review Employing Participatory Methodology.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Review
- Rethinking crossover and recovery in eating disorders through a dynamic and value-sensitive framework.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2026Article
- A Deleuzian Examination of Anorexia & Recovery: Opening up Possibilities for Conceptualizing Care.Nursing philosophy : an international journal for healthcare professionals · 2026Article
- 'Why can't you just be fine?': An autoethnography of self-harm from a lived experience and nursing perspective.Health (London, England : 1997) · 2026Article
- Key features of illness and treatment experiences in longstanding anorexia nervosa: qualitative descriptive study.BJPsych open · 2025Article
- "Being kept alive-but not being supported to live": experiences of general psychiatric inpatient care among persons with anorexia nervosa.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- A call for a trauma-informed approach during compulsory care for enduring anorexia nervosa with combined PTSD - an autoethnographic perspective.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Equity in eating disorders: a dialectical approach to stigma, expertise, and the coproduction of knowledge.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Experiences of intensive treatment for people with eating disorders: a systematic review and thematic synthesis.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Review
- A living experience proposal for the co-occurring diagnosis of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder and other eating disorders.Journal of eating disorders · 2024Article
- The importance of individualised care, good communication and trust for reducing nasogastric tube feeding under physical restraint: qualitative multi-informant study.BJPsych open · 2024Article
- A systematic review of people's lived experiences of inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa: living in a "bubble".Journal of eating disorders · 2023Article
- Inaccessibility of care and inequitable conceptions of suffering: a collective response to the construction of "terminal" anorexia nervosa.Journal of eating disorders · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
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Abstract
This autoethnography examines my experience of the diagnosis and treatment of anorexia nervosa. Drawing on memory and personal and medical documents relating to inpatient admissions in an adult specialist eating disorder unit, I narrate and analyse my experience in terms of my relationship to the diagnosis of anorexia and the constructions of it I encountered. I show how I came to value an identity based on anorexia and how I learned ways of 'doing' the diagnosis in treatment. This involved me valuing medical markers of illness, including signs of poor health, which became crucial to how I performed my diagnosis and retained the diagnostically-informed sense of self that I valued. I suggest that, ultimately, these diagnostic-dynamics, alongside other effects of long-term inpatient treatment such as detachment from 'normal life', prolonged my struggles with self-starvation. The insights from this autoethnography shed light on potential iatrogenic impacts of diagnosis and treatment for anorexia.
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