Colloquium: Anorexia Nervosa as a Passion: Historical, Philosophical, and Clinical Aspects

The Center for the History of Emotions at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, led by Prof. Ute Frevert, cordially invites all interested to attend its winter semester 2018/2019 colloquium:

Louis C. Charland, Western University

Anorexia Nervosa as a Passion: Historical, Philosophical, and Clinical Aspects

Contemporary diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa explicitly refer to affective states of fear and anxiety regarding weight gain, as well as a fixed and very strong attachment to the pursuit of thinness as an overarching personal goal. Yet current treatments for that condition often have a decidedly cognitive orientation and the exact nature of the contribution of affective states and processes to anorexia nervosa remains largely uncharted theoretically. Taking his inspiration from the history of psychiatry, Louis C. Charland argues that conceptualizing anorexia nervosa as a passion is a promising way forward in both our understanding and treatment of that condition.

Louis C. Charland is a philosopher with an interest in the history and philosophy of psychiatry and a special interest in decision-making capacity as it relates to addiction, anorexia nervosa, and consent to medical assistance in dying. He is currently Professor in the Departments of Philosophy and Psychiatry and the School of Health Studies at Western University, in London, Ontario, Canada. Prior to his appointment at Western University, Professor Charland worked as a Program Consultant for the Premier’s Council on Health Strategy of the Government of Ontario in Canada, and as a bioethics consultant at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, and the Biomedical Ethics Unit at McGill University.