The Cultural Dimensions of Eating Disorders Treatment: Mexico and the United States

 

          Principal Investigator:  Rebecca J. Lester, Ph.D., PI

          Funder: CMHSR funded pilot through NIMH - R24 MH50857

          Timeframe: 7/04-12/04

          Affiliation: Center for Mental Health Services Research (CMHSR)

Participating Organizations: (1) Avalon Clinic, Mexico City, Mexico and (2) St. Louis, Missouri.

Project Contact: Rebecca Lester, PhD, PI, 314-935-9426

                            rjlester@artsci.wustl.edu

 

Project Update as of 12/16/07:
Stage: Completed

 

Description: This project is an ethnographic study of two private in-patient treatment centers for eating disorders, one in Mexico City and one in St. Louis, MO.  The aim of the study is to explore the cultural dimensions of eating disorders treatment in these two facilities through a qualitative engagement with the paradigms of recovery in each clinic.  Specifically, I focus my attention in 5 key areas: (1) the mechanisms of treatment employed at each site and how these are understood to “work” therapeutically (from the perspectives of both patients and staff); (2) group dynamics among the patients and how this relates to recovery; (3) therapists’ working models of the causes and treatments for eating disorders and how this informs their work with clients; (4) the situating of each clinic within broader cultural beliefs about psychiatry and psychiatric services; and (5) an examination of the political economy of psychiatry in each context, specifically in terms of how economic and policy constraints (e.g., the rise of HMOs in the US and the lack thereof in Mexico) impacts the delivery of services. In a more general sense, this project explores the ways in which cultural values about femininity, sexuality, family and dependence inform the understandings of eating disorders in each site and are reflected in treatment protocols.