© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi �0.��63/�569�6�4- � �34�303 Journal of Phenomenological Psychology 47 (�0 �6) �7–40 brill.com/jpp pheno menol ogical psych ology jour nal of From Body Image to Emotional Bodily Experience in Eating Disorders María Isabel Gaete University of Chile isagete@gmail.com Thomas Fuchs Psychiatrist and philosopher, Karl Jaspers Professor for Philosophical Foundations of Psychiatry at the University of Heidelberg; Head of the Section “Phenomenological Psychopathology and Psychotherapy” Abstract This paper is a critical analysis and overview of body image conceptualization and its scope and limits within the field of eating disorders (EDs) up to the present day. In addition, a concept of emotional bodily experience is advanced in an attempt to shift towards a more comprehensive and multidimensional perspective for the lived body of these patients. It mainly considers contributions from phenomenology, embodiment theories and a review of the empirical findings that shed light on the emotional bodily experience in eating disorders. It proposes an ‘embodied defense’ that leads patients to experiencing their own bodies as objects. This proposal highlights the need for new psychotherapeutic tools in the treatment of EDs that take into account the bodily reso- nance of emotions and their use for improving adaptive responses to the environment: it calls for helping patients to recover the subjective experience of their bodies. * Thanks to the National Committee of Scientific Research and Technology of Chile, CONICYT for the financial support granted by the scholarship N°21100137.