Abstract
Obesity has nowadays reached epidemic levels and represents a public health issue. Despite of being traditionally treated through dietary reeducation and the practice of physical activities, these measures are not always effective to the treatment of morbid obesity. In such context, the bariatric surgery emerges as one of the main treatments for substantial weight loss that the medical science is able to currently offer. However, it is estimated that this procedure is efficient in 85% of the cases- it can be seen, for instance, cases in which the patients eventually recover part of their lost weight and therefore develop dietary disorders or several compulsive behaviors. This article aims to comprehend the psychic suffering inherent to obesity, through a bibliographic review of Freudian psychoanalytic concepts. These concepts allow the comprehension of the psychic apparatus dynamic, emphasizing the concepts of death instinct, narcissism and melancholy. Out of the analysis of the “Dead mother complex”, as described by André Green, we sustain the hypothesis that some obesities might be the consequence of an attempt to overcome a melancholic pain, a mourning that cannot be worked through and that is related to a narcissistic loss.
Psychoanalysis; Obesity; Bariatric Surgery