Current research indicates 96-98% of females who receive eating disorder treatment state they value a Judeo-Christian belief system. The Judeo-Christian belief system is based Augustine's doctrines, written in the 4^th century (MacGregor, 1991). The first female death due to self-induced starvation occurred in the 4^th century. The question is what occurred in the 4^th century that created an archetype of starvation and that has led to what some consider an epidemic of eating disorders in the 21^st century.

Legally Augustine had to convert to Christianity in order to pursue a political post in the Roman Empire. Augustine was influential as a local judge and Christian bishop through his rhetoric and copious writing, which reflect his previous values and religious beliefs drawn from Cicero, Stoicism, Manicheaism, and Neoplatonism. Augustine concedes that his Christian doctrines are not based on scripture but rather on his personal experiences of God.

Augustine states Christ as a man came to save men but women are redeemed when they take a “vow of virginity” and “eat only when to prevent death” (Saint Augustine, trans. 1997, pp.155-156). He states women corrupt men, even their own sons, through their sexuality (Saint Augustine, trans. 1997). His numerous comments about the depravity of women and the body created the archetype of starvation for females and encouraged a patriarchal society. The doctrines of Luther, Calvin, and the Puritans perpetuated Augustine's archetype of starvation, which is evident psychodynamically in the way that females have had for centuries a not good enough fit with their containing parental authority figures. As a result females, as children, have integrated disintegrations into their sense of self. Additionally, when these females are mothers, they cannot manage and make meaning of their daughters' persecutory archetypal forces. This cycle is evident in the presence of eating disorders among females of all ages in Western civilization.

A paradigm shift is required in which the therapist acts as the containing parental authority figure and assists the client in becoming her own containing parental authority figure. This can occur when the female moves from extrinsic ideology to an intrinsic authenticity with self, others, and the numinous.