DISTURBI DEL COMPORTAMENTO ALIMENTARE E GRAVIDANZA: ANALISI QUALITATIVA DI VISSUTI

Eating disorders represent a heterogenous group of pathologies characterized by an altered relationship with food and the body. The most typical pathologies are Nervous Anorexia, Nervous Bulimia and Disorders not differently Specified. According to the WHO (World Health Organisation) they represent a problem of public welfare in constant increase. The illness usually breaks out during adolescence, the age when important physical and psychological changes take place. Sometimes ,however, the illness not cleared up follows the young woman in all the most important phases of her life, one of them is pregnancy. The aim of this research work is to investigate how a past experience of a woman affected by eating disorders can influence pregnancy and maternity. Therefore the particular moods and sensations felt during endo- and exogestation have been recorded, as it emerges from the experiences of the sampled women. The research, carried out from April 2014 till July 2014 has involved 25 women. Five have been met, interviewed and recorded by the researcher herself; the remaining 21 have spoken about their experiences on specific web sites and blogs focused on the topic” Eating Disorders”. The interviews have been analyzed through the creation of a Word chart which has enabled the researcher to identify 11 Categories and 4 Topics. The 4 topics can be summarized as follows: “ The experiences of the women: not feeling aware of themselves “ Giving life”, “ The changing body” , “ Being a mother and being affected by eating disorders”. It has been possible to state that in women with anamnesis for Eating Disorders a real and true” emotional struggle” is present during pregnancy, a struggle on one hand between the happiness of becoming mothers and on the other the fear of change, because they are still linked to their pathology. Therefore it is important to provide those women with a global midwife care, constant and personalized, also thanks to the setting up of specific surgeries made up of different doctors, so that the course of pregnancy and eating disorders can be followed simultaneously.