Eating disorders continue to be viewed as curable diseases, forcing people into predetermined narratives of pathology that shape how they are viewed and treated. Situated in a feminist application of Bakhtin’s sociological linguistics, we were concerned with how participants understood eating disorders, the nature of their experiences, and the causes of their distress. Following a dialogical method, multiple in-depth interviews were conducted with seven women who experienced an eating disorder and who had been sexually abused previously, and participants’ own drawings and poetry were obtained to gain deeper insights into meanings and emotions. We found an eating disorder offered a perception of cleanliness and renewal that was attractive to participants who experienced overwhelming shame. It is critical that researchers use a range of visual and sensory methods to move eating disorder understandings and treatment beyond illness and pathology.

饮食失调继续被视为可治愈的疾病，迫使人们进入预先确定的病理叙述，从而影响他们的看法和治疗方式。在巴赫金社会学语言学的女权主义应用中，我们关注参与者如何理解饮食失调、他们经历的性质以及他们痛苦的原因。通过对话式的方式，对7名曾遭受过性虐待和饮食失调的女性进行了多次深度访谈，并获得了参与者自己的图画和诗歌，以更深入地了解意义和情感。我们发现饮食失调提供了一种清洁和更新的感觉，这对经历过巨大羞耻感的参与者很有吸引力。