From the Anal Stage to the Orthorexia

The classic Freudian developmental stages are Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital stages. We should add another stage that every preson inevitably goes through in his life and I mean without exceptions. This stage is Orthorexia, the term coined recently by Dr. Steven Bratman to describe some of his patients who decide that a special dietary regiment will bring the salvation. Steven Bratman writes: “Orthorexia nervosa, as I originally defined it, indicates an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food. The term is derived from the Greek ortho, which means “right”, or “correct”, [and orexis, "appetite"] and is intended as a parallel with anorexia nervosa“. I think by choice or by fate at some point in their lives everyone goes through Orthorexia. The important component of this variant OCD stage is the absolute conviction that it brings not just personal but the universal salvation. Neat term, I wonder how Dr. Bratman came up with it, hmm…

Tagged as: food, health, medicine, paleolithic, religion