”The greater dysphoria I’ve had, the greater dysmorphia - they work together” - An interview study on trans and nonbinary experiences of seeking and participating in Swedish eating disorder treatment

Abstract

The accessibility of eating disorder treatment for trans and nonbinary individuals has for long been an overlooked approach within research as well as in practice both internationally and in Sweden. By analysing four interviews with care seekers who identify as trans and/or nonbinary, the purpose of this study is therefore to map out the norms and discourses that shape the accessibility and applicability of Swedish eating disorder treatment. Through a mixed method of thematic and Foucauldian discourse analysis, the material has been structured around common themes that make visible power relations and discursive practices both within and outside treatment. The results show that the societal as well as clinical discourses of eating disorders are attached with cisnormativity as well as norms of gender and body shape. This limits other embodiments of the illness and thereby also the possibility of being recognised both within and outside the treatment. The accessibility and applicability of eating disorder treatment for trans and nonbinary care seekers is found to be limited by normative understandings of who gets affected as well as standardised methods of treatment.