The aim of this study was to understand the discursive constructions of self, made by people diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia, who were participating in a psychological support group. Fourteen young women, who were being attended to in a psychological support group in a public health service at a university hospital, took part in the study. Ten consecutive weekly group sessions were selected and qualitatively analyzed using Bakhtin's historical and cultural approach. Commonly held beliefs about eating disorders were evoked in the participants' words, and were refuted, negotiated, or accepted in the group, furthering the deconstruction of myths about the disorders. The analysis highlights the importance of support groups as a therapeutic tool that enables the production of new, non-pathological approaches to eating disorders and the people diagnosed with them.
Anorexia; Bulimia. Dialogism; Support groups