An Analysis of a Case of Functional Vomiting and Bulimia: C. E. Leonard. Psa. Rev., XXXI, 1944, pp. 1–18.

Leonard reports in some detail the successful analysis of a case of vomiting and bulimia in a woman who originally requested treatment for certain social inhibitions. The symptoms had their origin in: (1) rejection by her parents (by the father because of her sex, and by the mother in favor of an older brother) to which she reacted by developing an aggressive dependency upon the mother; (2) her rejection of all genital desire in order to gain the mother's approval and in her equation of sexual intercourse with oral incorporation of the penis; (3) her intense penis envy, an expression of her desire to secure her father's love and compete successfully with her brother for her mother's affection; and (4) in her castrating attitude toward men based upon her desire to revenge herself upon her father and brother, and at the same time secure for herself a penis with which to attract her mother. Her excessive appetite was an aggressive defense against the loss of love and an expression of hostility against men who successfully competed with her for her mother's affection. The vomiting was a symbolic rejection of these desires and a masochistic restitution for the guilt occasioned by her hostile efforts to belittle men.