This paper reviews recent discussions on the classification of feeding disorders and its psychoanalytical importance and impact. Understanding feeding disorders by focusing on the mother-infant dyad is closely related to psychoanalytical research on early object relations and attachment theories. The caregiving and feeding agent takes an active role in the etiology of feeding disorders. This paper presents Irene Chatoor’s proposal of classification, stressing the theoretical psychoanalytical background involved in the clinical approach to the dyad. The overcoming of the organic-nonorganic dichotomy in child psychiatry is an important step towards dialog and collaboration among closely related disciplines in the field of psychopathology. The possibility of integration between psychoanalysis and psychiatry opens up new inroads in the field of research, including new approaches and sharper identification of risk factors and clinical challenges that could be prevented or avoided earlier and more precisely.
Feeding disorders and feeding difficulties; mother-infant (mother-child) relation; psychiatry; psychoanalysis; Irene Chatoor