Supervisors info:
Δημήτρης Αναγνωστόπουλος Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Ελένη Λαζαράτου Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Μαρία Τζινιέρη- Κοκκώση, π. μ. Επικ. Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ, Επιβλέπουσα
Summary:
This study attempts to highlight and illuminate the connection between the deficient maternal function - the absence of maternal empathy in the early mather -infant relationship - and the developing psychopathology later in adolescence, in the form of the clinical picture and symptomatology of Anorexia Nervosa (AN).
In the first part of this study we present some basic psychoanalytic views through which the importance of early infant relationship with the primary subject, the mother is described and acknowledged. The effects for the emotional and psychosexual development of the child and later on the mental health of the adult are investigated, in the case that the deficit condition prevails in early maternal function. The first part of this paper is a theoretical background for the study of etiopathogenicity in AN in the light of psychoanalytic theoretical views. In other words, a central theme (issue) in this study is to understand the aetiopathogenesis of this disease, as reflected in psychoanalytic theory and thought, consistently from the point of view of the association of AN with early deficits in the primary maternal relationship.
In the second part of the paper, a brief historical review of the disease is presented since it first appeared and was mentioned in the writings of scientists and scholars of that time, that is to say, of the 19th and 20th centuries, up to the modern times. Next, are presented the most important psychoanalytic theoretical views to which they relate the etiopathogenesis of AN, as formulated from the time of Freud and the psychoanalysts of the same period, to the later and more recent theorists, constantly emphasizing the mother-infant emotional connection and how contributes to the strengthening of the child's mental structure when it is adequate and continuous or, on the contrary, leads to adverse pathological consequences such as those observed in eating disorders, especially in AN.
It has been, generally, found through the studies of these clinical and theoretical psychologists, and through their observations to people suffering from AN, that when there is an incomplete or ongoing severance of this primary affective mother-infant relationship, then the psychosocial development of the child and particularly his body image, are negatively and decisively affected. The psychological deficits of these patients are due to the lack of adequate maternal functions.
At the same time, and throughout the development of study, clinical material is presented from female patients diagnosed with AN in psychodynamic psychotherapy, who have a deficient maternal function in their history, which they bring into their narratives, in psychotherapeutic sessions or through behaviors and acting-out, thus allowing the reader to associate psychoanalytic opinions about the etiology of AN, with the patient’s actual experiences.
The contribution of the present study is to exploit the psychodynamic understanding of the etiopathogenesis and intrapsychic dysfunction of AN in psychotherapy. That is, it can be used by these pantient’s psychotherapists to promote an appropriate therapeutic context for intervention for the mental treatment of the deficits and the potential remedial psychotherapeutic experience.
Although the conclusions that come out of this study cannot be generalized, they indicate, however, that (a) when a shortage of maternal-infant premature motherhood has been experienced, there is higher likelihood of adverse, pathological consequences such as those observed in AN or, more generally, in eating disorders, and that (b) this understanding is useful in the relative psychotherapy of these patients.
Keywords:
Anorexia nervosa, Empathy, Maternal function, Psychoanalytic understanding
