Performances of Eating Disorders on TikTok – A Case of Hysterical Modes of Externalisation

An increasing number of videos on the social media platform TikTok show individuals who allegedly have or are recovering from an eating disorder. The videos depict particular performances and aestheticisations of eating disorders which are analysed in detail in this article through an interdisciplinary perspective of psychoanalysis as well as media and communication studies. This analytical perspective focusses upon the dialectic of content and aesthetic form, while also taking into account the technical features of the platform. The guiding question is whether eating disorders can be analysed using the psychoanalytic concept of hysteria which is applied to further unpack common qualities of the videos around performances of reinterpreting and remodelling of inner and psychosocial reality as a pseudo-solution of conflicts. We argue that eating disorders staged and performed in the videos by the young women can be regarded as different forms of externalisation in hysterical modes: attempting triangulation; repeating and acting out; representing a punishing super-ego. We conclude that hysteria remains a vital and critical concept for understanding contemporary representations of the body in the context of mental health on digital platforms.