This case of mental anorexia is interesting because the patient, after a few days' separation from her twin due to hospitalization, went into a confused depressive state, in the course of which she longed for her sister. During this episode she started to eat again, and left the hospital greatly improved.

The authors believe that in this patient the anorexia was conditioned by the fact that at the age of four the sister went through a period of anorexia during which she had to be cared for by the mother, and that the patient's illness represented an attempt at identification with her sister in order to gain the mother's attention. The patient reacted to separation from the sister in a way similar to the reaction of an infant separated from the mother. This point was further emphasized by the highly developed system of nonverbal communication that existed between these twins and its similarity to that which exists between mother and infant.