[2] Ellen decided to discontinue her use of laxatives in order to get pregnant, but her fears of weight gain overpowered her and she began using them again.
West was given a great variety of diagnoses including melancholia, severe obsessive neurosis, and schizophrenia.
West's fear of becoming fat caused her to welcome death as an acceptable outcome, as then she wouldn't have to worry anymore.
She was often quoted by her psychiatrist, Ludwig Binswanger, explaining how her life felt like a prison that could be only made better by dying.
To West, her life felt empty and dull, and filling her body with food only made her feel worse.
Her eventual death came after taking a lethal dose of poison, having spent a full day eating to satisfaction, reading poetry and writing.
[7] Binswanger thought that the initial diagnosis of manic-depressive psychosis was wrong because of a lack of manic phases.
[7] Finally, in the view of therapeutic nihilism, Binswanger let her leave the Kreuzlingen clinic, and she later died because of drug overdose, with her husband Karl present and consenting.
[7] Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist who already in 1961 wrote a book in which dealt with Ellen West's case,[9] felt upset that she was regarded as an object by Binswanger and suggested that she would be better if treated with client-centered therapy.
Alternative rock band Throwing Muses recorded a song called "Ellen West" on their 1991 album The Real Ramona.
Ellen West is mentioned in "What I Loved: A Novel" by Siri Hustvedt as a case study in a book about eating disorders published by Violet, a character in the novel.