No abstract

Obesity is considered an epidemic problem, which causes serious damage to the physical and emotional health of individuals. In order to investigate the psychological and cultural phenomena involved in obesity, we propouse a comprehensive and symbolic view of the discourses of obese women, patients from a General Hospital in Curitiba-Pr. The study was based on theoretical constructs such as: Jung's Complex Theory, Henderson's Cultural Unconscious, Singer and Kimbles' Cultural Complex. From these theories, it is aimed to propose a new theoretical construct: the Eating Complex, which is represented by experiences related to the theme of food, and relate it to the Cultural Complex. It is observed from the discourses that both Complexes paradoxically express themselves in a way to incorporate unconscious ideas of an ideal body, that rests in an archetypal image of hunger and lack. In a context of health, this lack marks the need for a filling that is often excessive and denatured, which should be considered in the multidisciplinary treatment of obesity, through therapeutic strategies that contemplate this reality and the vision of psyche totality.