[The body and food as objects in anorexia and bulimia]

In this paper the function of food and of the own body in anorexia and bulimia is understood as representations of good and bad mother objects. In anorexia nervosa the body in the state of underweight is the good mother-object ("not-mother"), the too heavy body is the bad mother-object ("like mother"). In bulimia the wish for incorporation of a good object (food before binging) and the following panic of the fusion with a bad object (food after eating) is acted out. Body and food, substituting mother objects, are manageable, the illusion of controlling self-object-boundaries is maintained. Thus anorexia and bulimia are understood as an attempt to cope with fear of fusion as well as of separation, which is revived in adolescence.