Illness negotiation: the case of eating disorders

This article explores the possible relationship between professional writing on eating disorders and the occurrence of symptoms. The clinical situation is seen as one in which negotiation about symptoms affects and is affected by both professional and popular explanatory models. Professional understanding is not necessarily categorically distinct from popular conceptions. Furthermore, it may be that different academic models hold different assumptions about normality and may expect different types of 'normal' behaviour from patients. Professional writing and educative material may be playing a function not dissimilar from material generally seen as exploitative in educating women into development of symptoms. This possibility has implications for the way that professional understanding is viewed and contextualized.