The Theme of Death in Dreams of Patients with Anorexia Nervosa: Four Selected Contemporaneous Case Histories

Touyz, Stephen; Jackson, Craig; O’Kearney, Richard; Thornton, Charlene; Russell, Janice; Beumont, P. J. V.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0968(199612)4:4<206::aid-erv137>3.0.co;2-l

Eur. Eat. Disorders Rev.

1996

DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0968(199612)4:4<206::aid-erv137>3.0.co;2-l

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The Theme of Death in Dreams of Patients with Anorexia Nervosa: Four Selected Contemporaneous Case Histories

Stephen Touyz

Craig Jackson

Richard O’Kearney

et al.

Abstract: In the early literature on anorexia nervosa, attention was often given to death-related cognitions as revealed through the nocturnal dream of patients. However, only recently has renewed interest been shown in the possible role that death preoccupations and concerns might play in both the aetiology and maintenance of anorexia neruosa.The present stwly discusses the significance of ckath-related themes revealed in the dreams offour patients who were under the consultant care of three of the senior coauthors.

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Cited by 2 publications

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Death and annihilation anxieties in anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and self-mutilation.

Farber¹,

Jackson²,

Tabin³

et al. 2007

Psychoanalytic Psychology

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Self-starvation, bulimic behavior, and self-mutilation comprise a triad of associated self-harm syndromes that are potentially life threatening, with anorexia nervosa having the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. They are associated with trauma and are extremely resistant to treatment. These patients present a disturbing lack of anxiety about their own life-threatening behavior, yet are preoccupied with death and anxiety about annihilation. Because dissociation compartmentalizes and separates psychological and somatic aspects of traumatic experience (psychological and somatoform dissociation), it enables these patients to disavow the life-threatening nature of their behavior, which makes the dissociative processes the most destructive factor in this psychopathology. The self-harm symptoms are a presymbolic form of communication that must be decoded and confronted in treatment to make recovery possible. For many patients who starve, purge, or mutilate themselves, the body is speaking of death. They require a treatment that protects their safety, determines their personal construct of death, treats the dissociative pathology and sadomasochism, and builds signal anxiety and other ego functions, especially affect regulation.

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Death and annihilation anxieties in anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and self-mutilation.

Farber¹,

Jackson²,

Tabin³

et al. 2007

Psychoanalytic Psychology

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show abstract

Anorexia dreaming: A case study.

Knudson

2006

Dreaming

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A case study is presented focusing on a dream of a severely anorectic woman. The dream occurred at a point when the disorder had become life threatening. The dream is discussed in terms of its significance in the dreamer's experience, its implications for the use of dreams in psychotherapy, and its relevance for the broader literature on psychopathology and dreams. Archetypal psychology's aesthetic, and phenomenological approach to dreams is presented as a framework for understanding the ongoing significance of significant dreams such as the one presented here.

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The Theme of Death in Dreams of Patients with Anorexia Nervosa: Four Selected Contemporaneous Case Histories

Cited by 2 publications

References 16 publications

Death and annihilation anxieties in anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and self-mutilation.

Death and annihilation anxieties in anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and self-mutilation.

Anorexia dreaming: A case study.

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