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Trauma and Eating Disorders Translated Through the Metaphor of Dream and Fairy Tale

Thursday, March 22, 2012: 2:00 PM-3:30 PM
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Crystal A (The Charleston Marriott)
The unconscious is revealed through the analysis of dream and fairy tale. Hans Christian Andersen's story of "The Little Match Girl" guides us through the development and course of an eating disorder and sheds light on the darker aspects of its psychopathology.
I. Enter the Dream
  • Growing up
    • Isolation
    • Darkness
    • Enter the Mother
      • Fear
      • Psychological split

II. Pain

  • Peers
    • Teasing
    • Sexuality
    • Thinness
    • Need

III. Confusion

  • Conflict
    • Beauty
    • Shame and Guilt
    • Society
      • Images
      • Advertising

IV. Trauma

  • Enter the Mother
    • Containment
    • Competition

V. Eating disorder begins

  • The striking of the match
  • Food and power
  • Emotional control

VI. Lost in Fantasy

  • Perfection
  • Loss of control
  • Archetype of the Fairy Godmother
    • Unconditional love
    • Ambivalence

VII. Surrender

  • Craving
  • Hunger
  • Longing
  • Death

Misunderstood

  • End of the dream
  • Societies concepts
  • Hope
Eating disorders are described in a unique way using Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of "The Little Match Girl." The story is told as if it were the dream of a child suffering with an eating disorder. The traumas of the story are interpreted and used to illuminate the difficulties faced by today's youth, as well as to explain how these experiences are manifested in such a difficult and deadly disease. Through this investigation the psychological development and evolution of the illness will be discussed, as will clinical treatment requirements.
Primary Presenter:
Tyler A. Wooten, MD

Dr. Tyler A. Wooten is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist, certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, who has been a practicing psychiatrist and psychotherapist for over ten years. Dr. Wooten is the psychiatrist and founding partner of Uptown Analytic Practices. He also serves as the supervising and treating physician at The Renfrew Center Dallas. He was an attending physician at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas and served as a medical director of the inpatient unit for six years. There, he helped develop The Center for Pediatric Eating Disorders.



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