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Section 2. Clinical Theory and Practice

Parents Who are Orphans: Implications for Second-Generation Scripts and Eating Disorders

Pages 132-137
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
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The breaking of affective ties in the early years of life greatly affects not only the script of the parent/orphan, but also the subsequent influence of the parent in the progressive definition and construction of reality by his or her children. From my own clinical experience, I have noticed that with patients with parents who were orphaned in their early years, a high percentage developed eating disorders. As in abortions and the premature death of a child, the experience of losing one or both parents in childhood affected the mother-child food dynamic. Considering that narcissistic disorders are discernable in the separation-individuation phase, we can see that the double bind between the mother/orphan, often herself a sufferer of eating disorders, and the son or daughter with an eating disorder may provide a key to understanding this complex picture. Therapeutic considerations are provided.

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Author information

Raffaella Leone Guglielmotti

Dr. Raffaella Leone Guglielmotti is a doctor in psychology and a Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (clinical) in private practice in Rome. She is presently responsible for transactional analysis training for Auximon.