Nameless Desire: Alexithymia and the Anorexic Patient

Author: Petterson R.

Source: The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, Volume 64, Number 1, March 2004 , pp. 77-90(14)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

In this article, the author attempts to provide a psychoanalytic understanding of the anorexic patient who is disconnected from her affective experience and is considered to be alexithymic. Through her restrictive food ritual, this type of patient may organize her internal states by repeatedly creating an illusion of what it is that she needs and desires. The author asserts that the task of the therapist working with the anorexic patient with alexithymia is to be aware of his own sensation-based reverie as lived within the intersubjective arena. This will enable the therapist to assist the patient in building an affective vocabulary to accurately identify, differentiate, and label the internal signals of her body. It is suggested that the subjective emotional experience of the patient will continue to be reorganized, expanded, and enriched as the therapist and patient mutually influence one another in this unique relational matrix. A clinical vignette is provided to illustrate intersubjective treatment interventions with a difficult-to-reach anorexic patient.

Keywords: anorexia; alexithymia; interoceptive awareness; intersubjectivity

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:TAJP.0000017992.93812.c6

Affiliations: 1: drpetterson@aol.com, Email: drpetterson@aol.com

Publication date: 2004-03-01