Clinical Framework
A Framework Built
Only for Men.
The first Jungian clinical approach to male eating disorders in Europe — drawn from 25 years of clinical experience and original doctoral research.
Why This Matters
Everything Else Was
Designed for Women.
Until recently, the diagnostic criteria for anorexia required three missed menstrual cycles — making it clinically impossible to diagnose a man. NICE guidelines still offer no male-specific treatment pathways. MenWhoHeal was built to correct this.
"Men with eating disorders often suffer in silence, believing their struggles are rare or invalid."
— Dr Philippe Jacquet, Doctoral Research 2025
The Core Framework
The Male Eating
Disorder Matrix
Developed through 25 years of clinical observation, the Matrix identifies four core positions consistently present when working with men.
01
Shame
Developed through 25 years of clinical observation, the Matrix identifies four core positions consistently present when working with men.
02
Identification & Blueprint
The son needs a father whose body he can identify with. Without this, he has no blueprint for inhabiting his own body.
03
The Father Figure
The search for a father is an archetypal need. When unmet, men seek identity in their bodies or addiction.
04
The Power Struggle
The eating disorder becomes a site of control — the one place the man can exercise power when everything feels beyond him.
Original Concepts
New Language for
What Men Actually Experience
Original Concept
The Kronos Complex
In Greek mythology, Kronos devoured his own children. In male eating disorders, the critical, controlling mind attacks the body with the same devouring force — consuming it from within, preventing growth, preventing life.
Original Concept
Body Number 2
Unable to identify with their father's embodied masculinity, men construct an imaginary body — perfect, lean, ideal — that becomes the condition for their real life to begin. This Body Number 2 is an empty symbol. It promises everything and delivers nothing.
"For a son, the father is the alchemical vessel — the container into which the son projects his developing masculinity. When the father cannot hold that projection, the alchemical process fails."
— Dr Philippe Jacquet · Doctoral Research 2025
Why Jungian Therapy?
The Three Pillars of
Our Approach
The Unconscious Speaks
Eating disorders are driven by unconscious dynamics that willpower cannot touch. Jungian work makes those dynamics visible through dreams, active imagination, and the therapeutic relationship.
The Body as Symbol
The body is a symbolic terrain — a space where psyche and soma meet. Working symbolically opens doors that food journals cannot.
Myth as Mirror
Men respond to myth. The stories of Kronos, the wounded healer, the searching son — these carry weight that case studies do not.
Take the First Step
Ready to Understand
What Is Really Happening?
One-to-one therapy begins from your first contact.