Social identity in eating disorders

Abstract

This qualitative study examines social identity in eating disorders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight females with an eating disorder diagnosis. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the data. Three superordinate themes emerged from participants' accounts: (1) Shifts in social identity; (2) Outgroup perceptions and influences and (3) Eating disorders as an ingroup. The findings suggested that a person's social identity can change during the course of having an eating disorder, and an interaction between social identity and a person's recovery from an eating disorder was proposed. Clinical implications, methodological issues, and directions for future research were discussed.