ABSTRACT
Treatment designed according to the theoretical orientation would involve a variety of procedures, including dietary regulation, medication, and psychodynamic therapy or behavior modification. A family therapist approaches anorexia nervosa from a different angle. The diagnostic model of the psychosomatogenic family helps the family therapist to approach a case of anorexia nervosa. The therapist monitors the resulting crises, creating experiential situations in which the family members can and must learn to deal with each other in new and different ways. The transcript that follows begins as the family, including all four children, and the therapist sit down at a lunch table, which has been set up in the therapy room. The anorexia nervosa syndrome has been deeply embedded in the family’s pathogenic transactional patterns, making it unusually resistant to change. Therapeutic interventions in the subsystem sessions are addressed to facilitating the negotiation and resolution of disagreements and encouraging the experience of mutually supportive, pleasurable, nonparenting interactions.
