The analyst's desire in the clinic of anorexia

Abstract

The present work deals with the issue of the analyst's desire in the psychoanalytical treatment of anorexia. It analyzes important elements to establish transference in these cases, as the pursuit of death and the choice of refusing food as a way of controlling the demands of the Other. It then discusses the "analist's desire" function in this clinic. Rejecting the definition of a treatment model and the structural categorization of anorexia, we can find in the cases of the girl of Angouleme (Charcot) and Sidonie (M. Mannoni) present possible subjective ways to get out of this psychopathological impasse, by means of this function. © 2009 University Association for Research in Fundamental Psychopathology.