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From families referred to a Jewish social agency the author selected for treatment twenty-five children whose principal difficulties centered around eating. There were a few instances of overeating and vomiting but anorexia was the principal symptom in almost every case. The family constellations revealed a consistent picture of an irresponsible father and an infantile, dependent mother. A number of the fathers drank, some were obese, but none played a dominant rôle in the home situation. The mothers showed a good deal of unresolved ambivalence toward their own mothers and either acted out their dependence overtly or attempted to compensate by success in the economic field. All dominated their homes in one way or another. The children were unwanted and the mothers' ambivalence toward them was pronounced. The mothers were either overly demanding of adult behavior from the children or else overindulged them on the basis of their identification with the children. The children, in turn, showed ambivalence toward their mothers and toward the therapist.
There was considerable improvement in some treated cases and in those where foster home placement could be carried out. The anorexia seemed to have several psychological determinants: revenge on the mother for her withholding of love; refusal to grow up; and self-punishment for the oral