Las formas de la autoviolencia: El caso de los trastornos en la conducta alimentaria

Resumen

The forms of self-violence: the case of eating disorders

Disorders of feeding behavior result from the interaction of various biological, psychological and social factors. Among the social factors, the kind of upbringing or education that patients have been subject to stands out. It was traditionally considered that a style of upbringing based on overprotection or excessive affection (spoiling), especially on the part of the mother, was the root of several psychological conditions and, particularly, of eating disorders. This paper demonstrates that, contrary to that belief, an intense rejection by the father is the most important risk factor. Besides, it reveals that psychological sequelae of the father’s rejection, together with those associated to other types of abuse and neglect, such as sexual molestation or abuse during childhood, correlate with this kind of disorders which, in turn, may be defined as a form of self-violence that, in certain cases, may lead to the patient’s own death.

Key words: Aggressiveness, anorexia nerviosa, bulimia nerviosa, suicide, eating disorder.