BED are psychiatric disorders which are heavily influenced by culture and by gender, although this second tendency has undergone some changes in recent times. If eating disorders, which are visible in the emaciated bodies of the anorexic or in the expanded shapes of binge-eating subjects, expose the complexity and incompleteness of the separation-individuation process and of the definition of self, of one’s own identity and of gender roles, pregnancy seems to be able to offer the possibility of acceptance and reconciliation with regards to such complex issues. Nevertheless the outcomes still seem to be tentative.
Keywords: Eating behaviour disorders, gender identity disorder, transcultural psychiatry, alexithymia, separation-individuation, mythology, pregnancy, motherhood.

Chiara Meroni, Nadia Chiarizia, Fabiana Greco, Carla Romano, Sponti Vilma Trasarti, in "RIVISTA DI PSICOTERAPIA RELAZIONALE " 30/2009, pp. 45-61, DOI:10.3280/PR2009-030004