Profile
Susie Orbach
Birth:
1946
Training Location(s):
PhD, University College London (2001)
MSW, State University of New York at Stony Brook (1974)
BA, City University of New York (1972)
Primary Affiliation(s):
Psychoanalyst and Psychotherapist, The Balint Consultancy
Founder, ANYBODY/ENDANGERED BODIES (2002–2018)
Co-founder, Women’s Therapy Centre Institute (WTCI), New York (1981–1984)
Co-founder, Women’s Therapy Centre (WTC), London (1976–1981)
Honorary Affiliation
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL)
Psychology’s Feminist Voices Oral History Interview:
Other Media:
Susie Orbach: In Therapy, Wellcome Collection (2018)
Stories of Psychology: An Interview with Susie Orbach (2017)
Career Focus:
Psychoanalysis; eating problems; body activism; emotional literacy; gender; psychotherapy; the practice of psychoanalysis; the therapy relationship
Biography
Susie Orbach developed her interest in psychology via the ideas that emerged from the 1960s civil rights movement and 1970s second wave feminism. In 1972, Orbach obtained her BA in the then nascent field of Women’s Studies from the City University of New York (CUNY). It was during these years that Orbach came to recognize the importance of studying the internalized, psychological factors that, as she puts it “… incline us to not act in our own self-interest”. She reflects that her experiences in women’s groups showed that patriarchy does not only exist “out there”, it was also enacted as we have to accommodate to the ways in which lives, thoughts, imaginations, longings, desires, are structure by class position, geography, gender, race and parental backgrounds.”
Despite being critical of psychoanalysis’s formulations of gender, Orbach saw it as a tool for exploring these internalized structures in the making of personal subjectivity. It led her towards a therapeutic vocation, which she pursued through a Master of Clinical Social Work at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Later she was awarded a PhD at University College London.
At CUNY, Orbach met longtime friend and collaborators Luise Eichenbaum and Carol Bloom. Together, they would co-found The Women's Therapy Centre Institute (WTC) in New York City, but first, Eichenbaum and Orbach started The Women’s Therapy Centre in London in 1976. Inspired by writings such as Jean Strouse’s Women and Analysis: Dialogues on Psychoanalytic Views of Femininity (1974), Franz Fanon’s Black Skins White Masks
(1952), Wilhelm Reich’s The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Thomas Sasz’s The Myth of Mental Illness (1961), R.D. Laing’s Divided Self (1960), and extensive reading of Freud, Horney, Fenichel, among others, they discovered, that despite Juliet Mitchell’s recently published Women and Psychoanalysis (1974), there was a dearth of services that addressed women’s experiences from the point of view of women.
They built The WTC from the ground up to provide therapeutic services to meet the growing demand of women who did not have a place to talk about their particular issues and experiences. Orbach and Eichenbaum facilitated group discussions among psychotherapists working at the Centre and elsewhere about the common themes encountered in clinical practice. The Centre became a place that international and national visitors came to learn and share together.
During these years, Orbach also began writing for non-academic audiences. Her pioneering book, Fat is a Feminist Issue (1978), went on to spawn self-help groups with Spare Tyre Theatre Company who created witty musicals about its ideas such as the meaning of ‘fat’ and ‘thin’, and how eating problems affect and are affected by psychological, cultural, and economic factors, why women’s bodies are a site of attack. As her own ideas have developed, she has elaborated these thoughts in subsequent works including Hunger Strike (1986), On Eating (2002), and the award-winning Bodies (2009).
Orbach and Eichenbaum subsequently embarked on many projects together, including their co-authored books Understanding Women (1982), What Do Women Want (1984), and Bittersweet (1987), which documented women's development throughout their lives and the meaningful experiences encountered at the Centre from the clients’ perspectives.
In 1981, Orbach, Eichenbaum, and Bloom co-founded the Women's Therapy Centre Institute in New York. Initially offered as a lecture series at the New York Academy of Science, the series transitioned into a fully-fledged postgraduate training centre. In 1984, Susie returned to London. She continued to see people in therapy, to write and lecture. For ten years she had a column in The Guardian for which she still writes.
Orbach’s drive to share her unique perspectives manifests not only in her writing, but through her dedication to activism and her focus on policy. She has critiqued the fast fashion industry, cosmetic surgery apps, the food and diet industries for undermining girls and women’s relationship to their selves. This of course has now extended to boys and men and trans people as these industries offer solutions to problems she believes they have instigated. In 2002, she co-originated the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. She has sat an expert on Government committees and co-authored HMSO reports including “Two for the Price of One” on body image for pregnant and postpartum people. She has also been involved in campaigns and initiatives such as AnyBody/Endangered Bodies (2002–2018), which aims to counteract body hatred, and “Antidote”, which aims to assist in people’s development of emotional literacy.
Orbach continues to share her insights through her career as a psychotherapist, writer, supervising psychotherapist at a variety of medical and educational institutions. She does not view what she does as a singular ‘career,’ but as an all-encompassing lens through which she interacts with the world. Her vocational endeavours have been and continue to be a testament to her belief that psychology and feminism have the capacity to create meaningful change at the governmental, interpersonal, and individual levels.
by Victoria Weigand & Zoë Martin (2022)
To cite this article, see Credits
Selected Works
Books
Kahr, B. (Ed.). (2025). Expanding psychoanalysis: The contributions of Susie Orbach. Routledge.
Orbach, S. (2018). In therapy: The unfolding story. Profile Books.
Orbach, S. (2018). The impossibility of sex : Stories of the intimate relationship between therapist and client (1st ed.). Taylor & Francis Group.
Orbach, S. (2009). Bodies. Profile Books.
Orbach, S. (2006). Fat is a feminist issue: the anti-diet guide; Fat is a feminist issue II : conquering compulsive eating (New ed.). Arrow.
Orbach, S. (2002). On eating: Change your eating change your life. Penguin.
Orbach, S. (2001). Hunger strike: Starving amidst plenty. Other Press.
Orbach, S. (1999). Towards emotional literacy. Virago Books.
Orbach, S. (1994). What’s really going on here? Virago Books.
Orbach, S., & Eichenbaum, L. (1987). Bittersweet: facing up to feelings of love, envy and competition in women’s friendships. Century.
Orbach, S. (1986). Hunger strike: The anorectic’s struggle as a metaphor for our age (1st ed.). Taylor & Francis Group.
Eichenbaum, L., & Orbach Susie. (1984). What do women want?: Exploring the myth of dependency. Berkey Books.
Eichenbaum, L., & Orbach, S. (1982). Understanding women: A feminist psychoanalytic approach. Penguin Books.
Orbach, S. (1978). Fat is a feminist issue: The anti-diet guide to permanent weight loss. Paddington Press.
Journal Articles
Orbach, S. (2014). I Wanted the Stuff of Secrets to be in the Light. In S. Kuchuck (Ed.), Clinical Implications of the Psychoanalyst’s Life Experience (1st ed., pp. 17–25). Routledge.
Orbach, S. (2012). Coming into desire. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 9(2), 209–214.
Orbach, S. (2009). Separated attachments & sexual aliveness: How changing attachment patterns can enhance intimacy. In C. Clulow (Ed.), Sex, attachment, and couple psychotherapy : Psychoanalytic perspectives (1st ed., pp. 63–74). Karnac.
Orbach, S. (2007). Democratizing psychoanalysis. European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 9(1), 7–21.
Orbach, S. (2004). What can we learn from the therapist’s body?: Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Attachment & Human Development, 6(2), 141–150.
Orbach, S. (2002). A view from abroad: Can we have reason without feelings? Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 12(3), 433–441.
Orbach, S. (2002). Some thoughts on Nancy Chodorow’s important contribution. Feminism & Psychology, 12(1), 23–27.
Orbach, S. (2000). The clinic, the nursery and the world bank: Psychotherapy and social institutions. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 16(4), 458–466.
Orbach, S., & Eichenbaum, L. (1995). From objects to subjects. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 12(1), 89–97.
Photo Gallery
Susie Orbach
Birth:
1946
Training Location(s):
PhD, University College London (2001)
MSW, State University of New York at Stony Brook (1974)
BA, City University of New York (1972)
Primary Affiliation(s):
Psychoanalyst and Psychotherapist, The Balint Consultancy
Founder, ANYBODY/ENDANGERED BODIES (2002–2018)
Co-founder, Women’s Therapy Centre Institute (WTCI), New York (1981–1984)
Co-founder, Women’s Therapy Centre (WTC), London (1976–1981)
Honorary Affiliation
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL)
Psychology’s Feminist Voices Oral History Interview:
Other Media:
Susie Orbach: In Therapy, Wellcome Collection (2018)
Stories of Psychology: An Interview with Susie Orbach (2017)
Career Focus:
Psychoanalysis; eating problems; body activism; emotional literacy; gender; psychotherapy; the practice of psychoanalysis; the therapy relationship
Biography
Susie Orbach developed her interest in psychology via the ideas that emerged from the 1960s civil rights movement and 1970s second wave feminism. In 1972, Orbach obtained her BA in the then nascent field of Women’s Studies from the City University of New York (CUNY). It was during these years that Orbach came to recognize the importance of studying the internalized, psychological factors that, as she puts it “… incline us to not act in our own self-interest”. She reflects that her experiences in women’s groups showed that patriarchy does not only exist “out there”, it was also enacted as we have to accommodate to the ways in which lives, thoughts, imaginations, longings, desires, are structure by class position, geography, gender, race and parental backgrounds.”
Despite being critical of psychoanalysis’s formulations of gender, Orbach saw it as a tool for exploring these internalized structures in the making of personal subjectivity. It led her towards a therapeutic vocation, which she pursued through a Master of Clinical Social Work at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Later she was awarded a PhD at University College London.
At CUNY, Orbach met longtime friend and collaborators Luise Eichenbaum and Carol Bloom. Together, they would co-found The Women's Therapy Centre Institute (WTC) in New York City, but first, Eichenbaum and Orbach started The Women’s Therapy Centre in London in 1976. Inspired by writings such as Jean Strouse’s Women and Analysis: Dialogues on Psychoanalytic Views of Femininity (1974), Franz Fanon’s Black Skins White Masks (1952), Wilhelm Reich’s The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), Thomas Sasz’s The Myth of Mental Illness (1961), R.D. Laing’s Divided Self (1960), and extensive reading of Freud, Horney, Fenichel, among others, they discovered, that despite Juliet Mitchell’s recently published Women and Psychoanalysis (1974), there was a dearth of services that addressed women’s experiences from the point of view of women.
They built The WTC from the ground up to provide therapeutic services to meet the growing demand of women who did not have a place to talk about their particular issues and experiences. Orbach and Eichenbaum facilitated group discussions among psychotherapists working at the Centre and elsewhere about the common themes encountered in clinical practice. The Centre became a place that international and national visitors came to learn and share together.
During these years, Orbach also began writing for non-academic audiences. Her pioneering book, Fat is a Feminist Issue (1978), went on to spawn self-help groups with Spare Tyre Theatre Company who created witty musicals about its ideas such as the meaning of ‘fat’ and ‘thin’, and how eating problems affect and are affected by psychological, cultural, and economic factors, why women’s bodies are a site of attack. As her own ideas have developed, she has elaborated these thoughts in subsequent works including Hunger Strike (1986), On Eating (2002), and the award-winning Bodies (2009).
Orbach and Eichenbaum subsequently embarked on many projects together, including their co-authored books Understanding Women (1982), What Do Women Want (1984), and Bittersweet (1987), which documented women's development throughout their lives and the meaningful experiences encountered at the Centre from the clients’ perspectives.
In 1981, Orbach, Eichenbaum, and Bloom co-founded the Women's Therapy Centre Institute in New York. Initially offered as a lecture series at the New York Academy of Science, the series transitioned into a fully-fledged postgraduate training centre. In 1984, Susie returned to London. She continued to see people in therapy, to write and lecture. For ten years she had a column in The Guardian for which she still writes.
Orbach’s drive to share her unique perspectives manifests not only in her writing, but through her dedication to activism and her focus on policy. She has critiqued the fast fashion industry, cosmetic surgery apps, the food and diet industries for undermining girls and women’s relationship to their selves. This of course has now extended to boys and men and trans people as these industries offer solutions to problems she believes they have instigated. In 2002, she co-originated the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. She has sat an expert on Government committees and co-authored HMSO reports including “Two for the Price of One” on body image for pregnant and postpartum people. She has also been involved in campaigns and initiatives such as AnyBody/Endangered Bodies (2002–2018), which aims to counteract body hatred, and “Antidote”, which aims to assist in people’s development of emotional literacy.
Orbach continues to share her insights through her career as a psychotherapist, writer, supervising psychotherapist at a variety of medical and educational institutions. She does not view what she does as a singular ‘career,’ but as an all-encompassing lens through which she interacts with the world. Her vocational endeavours have been and continue to be a testament to her belief that psychology and feminism have the capacity to create meaningful change at the governmental, interpersonal, and individual levels.
by Victoria Weigand & Zoë Martin (2022)
To cite this article, see Credits
Selected Works
Books
Kahr, B. (Ed.). (2025). Expanding psychoanalysis: The contributions of Susie Orbach. Routledge.
Orbach, S. (2018). In therapy: The unfolding story. Profile Books.
Orbach, S. (2018). The impossibility of sex : Stories of the intimate relationship between therapist and client (1st ed.). Taylor & Francis Group.
Orbach, S. (2009). Bodies. Profile Books.
Orbach, S. (2006). Fat is a feminist issue: the anti-diet guide; Fat is a feminist issue II : conquering compulsive eating (New ed.). Arrow.
Orbach, S. (2002). On eating: Change your eating change your life. Penguin.
Orbach, S. (2001). Hunger strike: Starving amidst plenty. Other Press.
Orbach, S. (1999). Towards emotional literacy. Virago Books.
Orbach, S. (1994). What’s really going on here? Virago Books.
Orbach, S., & Eichenbaum, L. (1987). Bittersweet: facing up to feelings of love, envy and competition in women’s friendships. Century.
Orbach, S. (1986). Hunger strike: The anorectic’s struggle as a metaphor for our age (1st ed.). Taylor & Francis Group.
Eichenbaum, L., & Orbach Susie. (1984). What do women want?: Exploring the myth of dependency. Berkey Books.
Eichenbaum, L., & Orbach, S. (1982). Understanding women: A feminist psychoanalytic approach. Penguin Books.
Orbach, S. (1978). Fat is a feminist issue: The anti-diet guide to permanent weight loss. Paddington Press.
Journal Articles
Orbach, S. (2014). I Wanted the Stuff of Secrets to be in the Light. In S. Kuchuck (Ed.), Clinical Implications of the Psychoanalyst’s Life Experience (1st ed., pp. 17–25). Routledge.
Orbach, S. (2012). Coming into desire. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 9(2), 209–214.
Orbach, S. (2009). Separated attachments & sexual aliveness: How changing attachment patterns can enhance intimacy. In C. Clulow (Ed.), Sex, attachment, and couple psychotherapy : Psychoanalytic perspectives (1st ed., pp. 63–74). Karnac.
Orbach, S. (2007). Democratizing psychoanalysis. European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling, 9(1), 7–21.
Orbach, S. (2004). What can we learn from the therapist’s body?: Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Attachment & Human Development, 6(2), 141–150.
Orbach, S. (2002). A view from abroad: Can we have reason without feelings? Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 12(3), 433–441.
Orbach, S. (2002). Some thoughts on Nancy Chodorow’s important contribution. Feminism & Psychology, 12(1), 23–27.
Orbach, S. (2000). The clinic, the nursery and the world bank: Psychotherapy and social institutions. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 16(4), 458–466.
Orbach, S., & Eichenbaum, L. (1995). From objects to subjects. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 12(1), 89–97.