Eating Affections – An Emotional Relationship with Food and Compulsions in the Light of Psychoanalysis

Objective: To investigate the relationship between binge eating and affectivity, from the perspective of psychoanalysis, focusing on the subjective aspects of compulsive eating, analyzing the unconscious mechanisms that link food intake to the attempt to buffer lack, suffering, and the demand for the Other. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is grounded in classical and contemporary psychoanalysis. The concepts of lack, jouissance, drive, repetition compulsion, and ego-ideal are mobilized, as developed by Freud (1927/1976), Lacan, Nasio (2014), Recalcati (2002), Vianna (2019), and Seixas (2009). The approach understands obesity and binge eating as phenomena permeated by unconscious dynamics, structured around desire, anguish, and the subject's relationship with the Other. Method: This is a qualitative research with a psychoanalytic theoretical-clinical basis. The method used was interpretive clinical listening with patients treated in a psychotherapeutic context, analyzing their accounts based on the theoretical framework of psychoanalysis. Symbolic content analysis and hermeneutic methods were used to interpret discursive manifestations and symptoms, focusing on the unconscious meanings of the affective relationship with food. Results and Discussion: Clinical reports revealed that binge eating functions as an attempt to fill an emotional void, often unconscious, related to the lack of recognition, affection, or symbolic security. Food emerges as a substitute object, constituting a compulsive symptom that points to a fragility of the self and narcissism. It was observed that, after interventions such as bariatric surgery, the compulsion can migrate to other objects, revealing the persistence of the underlying psychic dynamics. Dependence on the gaze of the Other and the contemporary imperative of bodily performance were also identified as aggravating factors of psychological distress. Research Implications: This research contributes to the clinical and theoretical understanding of eating disorders from a psychoanalytic perspective, offering support for the work of psychologists, psychoanalysts, and health professionals. It highlights the importance of subjective listening in the treatments of obesity and binge eating, highlighting that purely biomedical or nutritional interventions tend to ignore the symbolic dimensions that underlie the symptoms. Originality/Value: The study stands out for articulating psychoanalytic theory and clinical listening in a field still little explored in depth: the subjective dimension of binge eating in the contemporary context. Its originality lies in its analysis of eating as a form of relationship with the Other, revealing that food can symbolically occupy the place of an absent affect. The research offers a humanized and critical perspective on the pathologization of the body and the erasure of psychological suffering in traditional approaches.