[Anorexia nervosa - a familial socialization deficit].

This study is based on the hypothesis that there is a connexion between the condition of Anorexia nervosa and factors of family socialization. The empirical examination of this assumption was carried out using the hospital records of 51 female patients treated for Anorexia nervosa in the Psychiatric University Hospital Göttingen from the period of 1967 to 1973. The family structure was investigated under the following context: 1) family constellation, 2) socioeconomic factors, 3) interactional patterns. At first sight these families have a normally disturbuted family constellation, a stable and accepted social status together with traditional social values. However, disturbed parental and matrimonial relationships in fluence the family attitudes in such a way as to enhance these behavior patterns associated with high performance and pseudo-solidarity. This complex family structure effects the anorexic patients such that--in an interactional view--an inbalance of ego identity arises and a adolescence crisis occurs.