Orbach, Susie (1946– )

English psychotherapist and feminist writer. An expert on eating disorders and women's issues, she claimed in her early book Fat is a Feminist Issue (1978) that losing weight had underlying psychological causes. She lectures in Europe and North America, is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, and has a consulting practice advising individuals and organizations. She is also a regular contributor to the press and broadcasting media.

She was born in London in 1946 into a Jewish family. Her father, Maurice Orbach, served as a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party. Educated at London Collegiate School, she abandoned plans to become a lawyer in 1968, enrolling instead on a women's studies course in New York, USA, where she attended her first discussion group on compulsive eating and self-image. With US author Luise Eichenbaum, she co-founded The Women's Therapy Centre in London in 1976 and in 1981 set up the postgraduate Women's Therapy Centre Institute in New York.

Orbach is a founder member of Antidote (an organization working for emotional literacy) and of Psychotherapists for Social Responsibility. She is also convener of AnyBody (working on body diversity) and a board member of The International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. She has been a consultant to the World Bank and the UK National Health Service and is an adviser to the DOVE Self Esteem Fund.