Considerations on self-psychology and eating disorders

Abstract

In this narrative review article, some considerations are reported on the psychoanalytic point of view of self-psychology on eating disorders in a multidisciplinary team approach, a theoretic and clinical perspective in which the Author recognizes himself. Some author's clinical ideas and concepts as "negative self", "eclipse of the self", "rebound syndrome", "bluff syndrome", "deficit of subjective attribution", related to the topic of the deficit of the Self, are exposed along with technical aspects, clinical material and references to the comparison of psychoanalysis with the EBM literature on psychotherapy of EDs and its contemporary role in an integrated multi-disciplinary treatment of these disorders.

A nutritionist approach to psychiatric treatment: Notes from a brief experience

“…In general, the difficulty in separating emotional demands from physiological signs of hunger was present in the interviews, understood as the expression of immaturity in facing the real. Food can satisfy questions of the moment, but it is insufficient in relieving emotional hunger, as the mind "urges to get out" 28,29 .…”

“…Compulsive eating seen in serious emotional imbalances is a way of relieving tension and reducing physical pain, which is seen in the body in the form of repetitive acts. What is mental is lived in the body, which suffers from these excesses 30 but that also somehow guarantees a possible accommodation 28 .…”