PARALLEL PROCESS - EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL DIGESTION IN ADOLESCENTS WITH EATING DISORDERS

This paper explores the emotional processes involved in psychoanalytic al psychotherapy with adolescents with eating disorders. The central d iscussion is of two clinical examples, both of whom were seen by the a uthor at the initial point of engagement with the therapeutic process. Through paying attention to the qualities of transference and counter transference, the idea of parallel physical and emotional processes is seen to emerge as central to the understanding of these two young peo ple and their difficulties. The second half of the paper goes on to de velop a comparison between the characteristics of the object relations of the two adolescent patients and the quality of early object relati ons in babies who have feeding difficulties. The fatter is discussed w ith reference to infant observation, particularly the author's study o f 'Five infants at potential risk. The conclusions drawn ave, first, t hat the therapist needs to take into account, in the countertransferen ce, the 'pull' cowards responding to the patient collusively, or throu gh repeating an invasive experience and, second, that the patterns of object relations which are seen in the adolescents and experienced by the therapist in the countertransference relate to prototypes of speci fic defensive configurations that can be described through observation , as occurring in early infancy.