‘Anorexic’ Adolescents: Negative and Positive Resistances in Narrative Therapy

Analysing Anorexia Nervosa: Digital Logic Provides Alternative Meanings of Its Nature, Leading to Alternative Forms of Psychotherapy

“…These coping mechanisms provide ways of protection, defence, safety and resistance against stress, future challenges and anxieties, conflicts, unexpected and undesirable changes in the lives of those persons (Botha, 2014(Botha, , 2019e.g., MacNeil et al, 2012;Marzola et al, 2015;Schmidt & Treasure, 2006;Wagener & Much, 2010). The participants in the study by Williams & Reid (2012) indicated that anorexia "was their only way of coping because they had not learned other coping strategies; thus, they depended on their disorder and felt that they 'needed' it" as "their disorder enabled them to 'survive' their unpleasant experiences" (p. 804).…”

“…These research studies have thus indicated that persons in relationship with "anorexia" have revealed that their universal patterns of behavior and lifestyle attitudes regarding food, weight, body size and shape, all of which are thought to be diagnostic criteria for a mental eating disorder called anorexia, function as coping mechanisms so as to resist the forces of specific, undesirable, unique, personal and dominant negative discourses in their lives. In other words, the negative discourses cause emotional pain, distress, anxiety and suffering, resulting in these persons having a desire to avoid the suffering caused, and consequently a person embraces "anorexic" behaviors in order to find a preferable way of living compared to the stress, pain and suffering from the negative discourses in their lives (e. g., Botha, 2019;Halse et al, 2008;MacNeil et al, 2012;Marzola et al, 2015;Shelley, 1997;Wagener & Much, 2010).…”

“…Orientation alongside the persons ' hopes, dreams, visions, purposes, etc Centered position of the therapist as expert Decentered position of the therapist as coresearcher For persons in relationship with anorexia, in their specific circumstances, the use of a poststructuralist therapeutic approach, namely narrative therapy, has provided an orientation that concentrates on the specific needs and problems of each person who exhibits such archetypal images and patterns of behavior (Botha, 2015(Botha, , 2019Epston, 2020;Epston & Maisel, 2009;Ingamells, 2016aIngamells, , 2016bKronbichler, 2004;Lock et al, 2004;Madigan & Goldner, 1998;Maisel et al, 2004;Vromans & Schweitzer, 2011;Weber et al, 2006;White, 2011). For instance, a recent article (Botha, 2019) explained an innovative and amended form of narrative therapy that addressed these circumstances. This article draws on notions of negative and positive resistances in exploring alternative understandings of 'anorexia', in a narrative therapy based approach for 'anorexic' adolescents.…”

“…The article (Botha, 2019) explained further that a post-structuralist, narrative approach to therapy for persons in relationship with "anorexia", would afford opportunities for narrative conversations that focus on the person's values, principles for living, and preferred identities (White & Epston, 1990), in order to co-author, with the therapist, an acceptable outcome that "would be the identification or generation of alternative stories that enable them to Psychological Thought South-West University "Neofit Rilski" 2020, Vol. 13(2), 286-307 https://doi.org/10.37708/psyct.v13i2.471 perform new meanings, bringing with them desired possibilities -new meanings that persons will experience as more helpful, satisfying, and open-ended" (White & Epston, 1990, p. 15).…”

“…For these persons, it is argued that treatment approaches should focus on those personal, negative and dominant discourses that are the reasons that create the needs for coping mechanisms. Therapeutic requirements for these persons in their circumstances, are clearly provided by a narrative approach, specifically an innovative form that is centred on the use of negative and positive resistances (Botha, 2019).…”