Transgenerational psychic transmission in a case of an obese adolescent

• Grant number: 24/22314-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Fernanda Kimie Tavares Mishima
• Grantee: Ana Luiza Franchito Cypriano
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Considering that obesity can be understood as a transgenerational symptom, which reveals continence problems in the family group, and that there are a small number of studies on the subject, the present study aims to understand the process of transgenerational psychic transmission in three generations of a family, which has a male adolescent with obesity. Specifically, it aims to: (1) Investigate each member's perception of their own family and the affected member; (2) identify patterns of repetition or psychic transmission related to the somatic expression of suffering across the three generations of the family; (3) understand the impact of psychic content transmitted without elaboration in intergenerational succession in the promotion and/or maintenance of adolescent obesity; (4) think about therapeutic intervention strategies that include the family group. This is a clinical-qualitative case study, with a clinical and psychoanalytic theoretical-methodological framework. The sample will be of convenience, consisting of a male adolescent (12 to 17 years old) with obesity from level 2, of any socioeconomic level, and his family members: mother, father, siblings (if he is not an only child) and maternal and paternal grandparents. The instruments will be: Brazil Economic Classification Criteria, a family identification questionnaire, a Thematic Graphic Unit procedure, and a work of art. Data collection will be carried out individually with each family member and will take place in person, according to the availability of participants. Each meeting will be transcribed in the format of Transference Narratives, to later be analyzed by free inspection of the material. At the end, an individual summary of each member will be made, followed by a general summary of the family. It is expected to reflect on the relationship between obesity and transgenerationality, as well as to think about effective intervention strategies.