Development of anorexia nervosa in a female adolescent in a dysfunctional family environment with impaired attachment and emotional regulation: a case report

Abstract

A 17-year-old female patient was admitted to the psychoneurological department of Kyiv Clinical Railway Hospital No. 1, due to deterioration of her mental state, a signicant decrease in body weight, and no e ect of outpatient treatment. The complex treatment program, directed on the correction of all multidimensional disorders with the preliminary psychodiagnostics examination of the patient and her parents according to the FACES-III, DERS, which were monitored in dynamics during the 3,6,9 and 12 months of treatment, was applied. The patient’s parents were additionally assessed by TAS, HADS, and the CQLS. We noted that the functioning of the family as a whole inuenced the emotional regulation of each of its members; in turn, the emotional regulation of the parents had a direct inuence on the patient’s emotional regulation, and the patient’s emotional regulation in uenced changes body weight. The patient’s personal psychotherapy and ABFT allowed us to decrease the gap in the attachment relationship between parents and patient and create a safe emotional base for reducing the stress of the relationship with parents at home, which was con rmed by positive dynamics of FACES-III, decrease in diculties of emotional regulation on DERS and restoration of the patient’s normal weight.