[Family models and mental anorexia. Part I. Patterns in patient's family origin]

The paper presents family models which associate the development of anorexia nervosa with the specific functioning of the patient's family of origin. The described conceptions are based on systems theory which assumes circular conception of family relations. This allows for avoiding one-sidedness of approach, i.e. perceiving a patient as a victim of the family system. In fact, these models emphasize the patient's part in the specific "game" taking place within the family. The conceptions indicate a number of characteristic patterns of relations between the patient's parents as a married couple as well as between the patient and her parents, which, in the period of adolescence become the source of a crisis that assumes the form of anorexia nervosa. The presented approach, focussed on an analysis of family relations, does not question the importance of other aetiological factors. It only points out that the dynamics of mutual relations within a family is an important mechanism influencing the development of the patient's identification and her psychosexual role as well as the course of the separation/individuation process. These aspects seem pivotal for understanding and treatment of anorexia nervosa.