Eating Disorders and the Concept of Affective Dependency

Pham Scottez A

Abstract

In a psychoanalytical approach, we understand eating disorders as a way of dealing with the tension between the inclination towards the object and the need to protect the narcissistic balance. We develop the concept of affective dependency in order to explain the particular difficulties adolescents with eating disorders encounter in reorganizing their object relationships. In an economic perspective, we understand the addiction to the food object as a counter-investment of the narcissistic weakness of this patients and its dynamic counterpart, the defense against the depressive threat.