Abstract

FERNANDES, Maria Helena. The body and ideals in the contemporary clinic. Rev. bras. psicanál [online]. 2011, vol.45, n.4, pp. 43-55. ISSN 0486-641X.

An emblem of a persistently sought-after ideal of perfection, the body today undergoes intense investment. However, it is pointed as a source of frustration and suffering, becoming a privileged instrument of the expression of unease in contemporary culture. It is in such a context that the clinical figures evoked by anorexia, as well as bulimia and the subtle diversity of eating disorders, have gained a prominent position. Thus, taking two clinical images as a starting point, I plan on approaching, in this article, three poignant aspects of anorexia and bulimia: the fetishization of the body, the attachment to the ideal, and the magnitude of the mechanism of refusal and of cleavage. This will be done with the objective of reflecting on the part played by the eating function, and its relation with the body and ideals, in the variations of contemporary unease.

Keywords : body; anorexia/bulimia; ideal of thinness; refusal and cleavage; eating.

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