Resumen

STEIN, Luciana Letícia  y  DONELLI, Tagma Marina Schneider. Perceptions of mothers with alexithymic functioning about motherhood and the baby with functional somatic symptom. Bol. - Acad. Paul. Psicol. [online]. 2021, vol.41, n.100, pp. 74-92. ISSN 1415-711X.

Alexithymic mothers have difficulty describing and naming their own feelings, and may present greater difficulties in recognizing and meeting the needs of their babies, affecting the mother-infant relationship and contributing to the manifestation of functional somatic symptoms (FSS) in the child. Therefore, the general objective of this research was to verify the perceptions of alexithymic mothers about motherhood and the baby presenting FSS, and the specific objectives were: 1) evaluate and understand maternal alexithmic functioning; 2) identify the mother's perceptions about motherhood and the baby; 3) verify how the mother understands the baby's symptoms, and 4) analyze the possible relations between maternal alexithymia and the baby's symptom. This is a qualitative study, with a Multiple Case Study design. Three alexithymic women between the ages of 24 and 34, with children up to 36 months who had at least one FSS participated. Participants answered the Sociodemographic and Clinical Data Sheet, Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-26), Baby Somatic Symptom Questionnaire, Life Story Interview and the Interview on Motherhood and the Mother-Child Relationship. It was possible to identify the possible factors that contributed to the alexithymic functioning and how these experiences influence motherhood and their perceptions. The study mothers in the interviews mainly identified the behavior FSS in their baby's, but they understood it as belonging to the child, and not as a symptom of the relationship.

Palabras clave : alexithymia; maternal alexithymic functioning; motherhood; functional somatic symptom; Winnicott.

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