Asperger syndrome with concomitant anorexia nervosa or transgenerational transmission of trauma?
Izabela Łucka

The identification criteria of autism spectrum disorders, based on symptoms presented by patients and difficulties reported by their carers, still raise controversies and doubts. Despite more and more precise diagnostic instruments, multiple dilemmas associated with establishing a proper diagnosis are still encountered in clinical practice. These mainly concern individuals with autism spectrum who are highly functional and able to compensate for or camouflage their deficits. It also happens that a behaviour of a given person confusingly resembles autism spectrum disorders, but its cause lies in problems linked with consequences of traumatic experiences of the posttraumatic stress nature which have been present for several generations. Moreover, the coexistence of both these mechanisms, i.e. neurobiological causes and disturbed relations resulting from trauma inheritance, cannot be excluded. The article discusses the process of psychotherapy in a patient who was allowed by her family system to seek specialist help only after the occurrence of severe clinical symptoms defined by a professional diagnosis. The woman belonged to a family generation that was able to recreate its dramatic history. This helped combine the cold intellectual message with profound feelings experienced by physically and emotionally harmed women, particularly during ethnic cleansing in the Polish Eastern Borderlands and repatriation.