Morbid obesity, compulsion

when life is sensory

Abstract

Observing material from obese patients seeking for bariatric surgery, an extremely primitive mental functioning was seen, where constant food ingestion is used as a defence mechanism against extreme unnamable terror. Investigating works by authors which have focused on studying the initial stages of development and correlating their findings with observed data, show that the sensations: chewing, tongue and jaw movements, texture, food flavour, and the sounds produced, are used by them as autistic defences, sensory, when faced with the terror of loosing parts of the self. Grade III obese individuals favour functioning from the sensory defense, grade II obese individuals also use defences of the paranoid-schizoid position. Envy and voracity have been seen as key factors of these personalities; the way the relationship occurs with foods, professionals, and surgery, will be determined by these characteristics. Taking into account their primitiveness, some changes in psychotherapy work technique are proposed.