Disregolazione affettiva, disorganizzazione dell’attaccamento e disturbi alimentari: fattori di rischio individuali e familiari

Attachment working models have been interpreted such as affective regulation/dysregulation patterns, whose disruption is associated with eating disorders. The purpose of this research work was to investigate attachment models and alexithymia in a sample of young 50 outpatients with anorexia and bulimia, in a subsample of parents and in a control group. The following instruments were administrated: Adult Attachment In-terview, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Observer Alexithymia Scale, SCID-I. The results show an over-representation of dismissing and disorganized attachment in the clinical sam-ple. ED subjects show a significantly higher level of alexithymia than the control group. Daughters and parents tend to attribute to each other alexithymic characteristics. Alexi-thymia could be considered as a symptom of a family that is not able to promote the devel-opment of affect mentalization.