The Dynamics of Control in Anorexia Nervosa

Abstract

During our clinical experience, we observed that young people already have had some emotional and behavioral alteration a long time before the disease begins. Also we identified, systematically, the presence of the dynamics of the control in every anorexia case that we saw. This reason motivated our interest to study more about this topic. We have checked that the material about this subject was poor, while we were doing a brief literature review about this theme. This way, we have tried to point the understanding about the meaning of the “control” in this disease and in the family. This article deals with the issue of control in eating disorders and nervous anorexia, through the study of some aspects of the film Bad Habits, directed by Simón Bross, 2007, that treats about the relationship of four women whose lives are united not just by family laces, but, mainly, by the eating disorders. We will not deepen about etiology, symptomatology and evolution of the disorder because there is a large literature about this subject. The stories of two of the four characters, Matilde and Elena, are the basis to discuss and illustrate the paradoxical dynamic of control as a way out of control.