The Contemporary Body and Compulsive Eating After Bariatric Surgery: a Psychoanalytic Review

Objective: This study aims to investigate, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the manifestations of binge eating in patients undergoing bariatric surgery, with an emphasis on the subjective relationship with the body and the possible reinscription of the symptom in the postoperative context. Theoretical Framework: The research is based on the contributions of Freudian and post-Freudian psychoanalysis, especially the concepts of drive, repetition compulsion, libidinal body, and constitution of the self. Authors such as Freud, André Green, Joyce McDougall, Lasch, and Seixas support the discussion on the connection between psychological distress, body, and compulsion in contemporary times. Method: This is a qualitative, exploratory, and bibliographical study, linked to the author's clinical practice. Classical and contemporary psychoanalytic texts were analyzed, as well as scientific studies indexed between 2003 and 2024, with descriptors related to binge eating, bariatric surgery, body, and subjectivity. Illustrative clinical excerpts were used with ethical rigor and confidentiality. Results and Discussion: The results indicate that bariatric surgery, while effective in weight reduction, does not address the unconscious dimensions of the symptom. Binge eating, often linked to flaws in the constitution of the ego, tends to be reinscribed in other instinctual objects. The culture of thinness and body exposure impose aesthetic standards that aggravate subjective suffering and weaken the subject's identity, intensifying psychological distress. Research Implications: The findings reinforce the need for continuous psychological monitoring before and after bariatric surgery. They also highlight the importance of clinical interventions that consider listening to the symptom and the subjectivization of suffering, as opposed to merely medicalizing approaches to obesity. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the field of psychoanalysis applied to the clinical practice of eating disorders by proposing a reading of the bariatric body as a space for the inscription of the unconscious. It highlights the urgency of integrative and symbolic approaches in the treatment of obesity, expanding understanding of the dynamics between body, desire and compulsion in contemporary times.