Food, temptation, body, animality and femininity represent Louise’s abjection. She has started a never-ending quest for the Nothing; nothing in her mouth, nothing in her body. She is following a mystical path: the Nothing that makes her go through a “ dark night ” like St. John of the Cross. Temptations and sins are tests of the soul for the mystic. Louise faces a similar fight against herself on her path to anorexia. How can the modalities of her scenario, wherein hallucinatory satisfaction denies her vital need, be understood ? The primary erogenous masochism, preserver of life, will become destructive masochism. Louise’s regression leads her to a linking/unlinking work and a drive diffusion. The prevalence of sight that comes from the pictogram has promoted access to the mystical path of the Nothing. The Nothing is her attempt to heal, which leads her to her death.

Adolescence, 2008, T. 26, n°1, pp. 89-99.