DALPINO, L. R. S. C. Psicodinâmica familiar e características de personalidade de pais, mães e filhas obesas [Family psychodynamics and personality characteristics of obese fathers, mothers, and daughters]. 74p. Doctoral Thesis – Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, 2021.
Available on: https://doi.org/10.11606/T.59.2021.tde-23042021-103744
Abstract: The exponential increase in the number of obese individuals and the severe pathologies associated with obesity makes it one of the greatest public health problems of today. The development and maintenance of overweight are considered to have a multifactorial origin. The etiology of this condition points to family relationships and the personality of parents as being contributing factors. However, studies addressing psychological and family aspects that contribute to the onset of Obesity are rare, with scientific production focusing mainly on biological components and eating habits of the family. Confronting this gap, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of the personality characteristics of obese girls, fathers and mothers from a Winnicottian psychoanalysis viewpoint. Based on these assumptions, this study aimed to investigate, through a psychological evaluation using projective methods, the personality characteristics of obese fathers, mothers, and daughters and the relationships they form, seeking to identify possible interactions between these elements and the support for this scenario. Five young women, between 12 and 25 years of age, who presented obesity with a BMI between 35 kg/m² and 40 kg/m², linked to a public health service specialized in the treatment of obesity, and their respective fathers and mothers participated in the study. The tools used to collect the data were: (1) Semi-structured Interview Script; (2) Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnosis (Q-EDD); (3) The Rorschach Method; (4) The Drawing-of-Family-and-Story Procedure (DF-E). Based on the data derived from the application of these tools, a psychodiagnostic synthesis was formulated for each of the participants. Subsequently, the data of the father, mother, and daughter in each family were gathered, resulting in a synthesis of the family group. Then, a psychodiagnostic synthesis of all the daughters, mothers, and fathers was produced. Finally, the data of all the families were cross-examined taking into account the literature in the area. The data found revealed family relationships marked by affective distance. Most of the participants exhibited castration anxiety, which leads to massive repression of sexual impulses. Mothers demonstrated greater logical control of affection, while fathers and daughters were less successful in this undertaking, leading to the accentuation of the distress. Unsatisfied, they resort to less elaborate defenses; therefore, the integration of affections becomes even more estranged. In the search for readjustment, parents distance themselves from relationships exhibiting the use of false self defenses, which difficult the exercise of the interdiction function, while the daughters have shown regression to orality. The mothers, repressing their affective experiences, offer care based on concrete food. As observed, the daughters play a regressive role by voraciously searching for maternal support through the food offered by the mother, while the latter projects her dissatisfactions on the daughter, creating a bond of dependence between both. The close relationship between mother and daughter agrees with the father’s withdrawal. Thus, the daughters’ symptoms help the whole family in the repression of the drive contents, being fed by all. The results show that the evaluation and inclusion of the family in the treatment of obesity can contribute to a more thorough understanding of the nature of the psychological strain of the members underlying the context of obesity of the daughter, contributing to the elaboration of therapies more suitable to the needs of the group.