The breaking of affective ties in the early years of life greatly affects not only the script of the parent/orphan, but also the subsequent influence of the parent in the progressive definition and construction of reality by his or her children. From my own clinical experience, I have noticed that with patients with parents who were orphaned in their early years, a high percentage developed eating disorders. As in abortions and the premature death of a child, the experience of losing one or both parents in childhood affected the mother-child food dynamic. Considering that narcissistic disorders are discernable in the separation-individuation phase, we can see that the double bind between the mother/orphan, often herself a sufferer of eating disorders, and the son or daughter with an eating disorder may provide a key to understanding this complex picture. Therapeutic considerations are provided.
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