Perspective de la maternité et troubles des conduites alimentaires : une exploration de l’univers de « l’avant-conception »

Abstract: This study explores the fantasy universe created by the prospect of maternity among young women suffering from eating disorders (ED), a dimension until now little discussed in the works inventoried to date. A qualitative analysis of the clinical material collected from semi-structured interviews carried out with 10 young women suffering from EDs and 10 others from the general population allows the formulation of three significant observations. The first, more formal, observation relates to the surprising verbal elaboration that the various discussion topics inspired in the subjects, while the second and the third relate more to the nature of the fantasies brought forward. Unlike the control group, the young women suffering from EDs make statements that hint at certain difficulties in freeing themselves from their initial family model. For these young women, family of origin and imaginary family seem to be superimposed, even identical, leaving little space for the creation of a story truly their own. In addition, the prospect of maternity seems to hold a self-healing opportunity for the young women suffering from EDs whereas, for the control group, the prospect seems to represent an progressive movement towards others, as well as a change of identity. Various remarks made by the ED group imply that the questions of the Ideal, the identical and of healing are at the heart of their concerns regarding the idea of maternity. The methodological limits of this study are discussed and suggestions for future research are formulated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]