Abstract
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder (ED) of multifactorial etiopathogeny. Maternal care and mother-child link configuration are critical factors for psycho-emotional development and can influence the onset and course of this disorder. This study aimed to investigate the psychic transmission of care in three generations of a family that had one of their members affected by AN in order to identify the transgenerational transmitted contents and their possible relationship with the development of AN. Three members of a family were interviewed: maternal grandmother, mother and a male adolescent diagnosed with AN. Data were collected through semi-structured interview scripts and analyzed from the theoretical framework of transgenerational psychic transmission. Results show a family dynamic marked by imposing and dominant female figures, and absence of male figures with whom the adolescent could identify himself. Body dissatisfaction, dietary restrictions and intense preoccupation with the body permeate the three generations studied, but only became symptomatic in the third generation, with the development of the disorder. Data support the need to include family members in the treatment to make them aware of the psychic processes involved, allowing the family to reorganize emotionally and elaborate the latent contents transmitted in the intergenerational chain.
Anorexia Nervosa; Family Relations; Mother Child Relations; Psychic Transmission between Generations; Adolescent Psychoanalysis