[Contribution to a systemic interpretation of anorexia nervosa].

The different ways in which anorexia nervosa has been understood throughout history are briefly described. Reference is made to those investigations underlining the role of the family in its pathogenesis, mainly to the papers on this subject that the authors themselves have published in the decade of the 70s. Then, an attempt of a systemic interpretation of anorectic syndrome is made, starting from the assumption that this acquires specific interactional characteristics in and for the family system in which uit has emerged. The more specific goals of this paper would be: to accurately describe the interaction forms of the system and sub-systems of anorexia nervosa; to put in evidence the function of the fundamental symptom, starvation; and finally, to make an approach to an eventual therapeutic intervention on the "anorectic" system.