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An eighteenth century account of self‐starvation in a male
Author(s) -
Silverman Joseph A.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/1098-108x(198705)6:3<431::aid-eat2260060314>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - anorexia nervosa , certainty , starvation , psychoanalysis , psychology , annals , psychiatry , history , medicine , eating disorders , classics , philosophy , epistemology
This report recounts the 78‐day fast and death of a young Englishman in 1786. Its author, who went on to become the father of English dermatology, wrote in 1790, “The duration of this young gentleman's fast is, I believe, longer than any recorded in the annals of Physic.” It is impossible to know with certainty whether this patient suffered from true anorexia nervosa or from another psychiatric affliction.