RESUMO
One of the most crucial problems concerning the pathogenesis of anorexia nervosa is the deficit of regulation. This problem appears in the symptoms, in the cognitive infexibility, in the levels of self organizations, in mother- child and familial relationships. The present paper tries to search for paralells addressing deficits of regulation by overviewing the theories of anorexia nervosa. Moreover, the World-Playing Test is presented as a projective method for the detection of these deficits. The test was used in 50 adolescent anorexia nervosa cases in the last years. The idiosyncratic traits of psychopathology are noticeable in the characteristics of buildups. The deficits of regulation appeared in signs as perceptual rigidity, perfectionism, compulsions, overwhelming and unregulated emotions, and in connection with these traits, the need of permanent control. The World-Playing Test proved to be an effective and rich psychodiagnostic method, which helps us not only to verify general theoretical conclusions, but also to understand the individual psychodynamic organization.