The authors present the clinical case of a 19-year-old patient with a perfectionistic functioning, apparently asymptomatic before the first COVID-19 lockdown. The social isolation and the interruption of daily activities characteristic of lockdown produced depressive and anxious symptoms in the patient that resulted in an increase of food ate and body weight, perceived as disturbing by the patient. Isolation seems to be the first triggering event of problematic mental states managed with a dysfunctional strategy (binge eating), the consequences of which (the increase in body weight) undermine the underlying sense of inadequacy and personal vulnerability of the patient. Therapist and patient undertake a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy with a metacognitive-interpersonal address, integrated with other specific therapeutic models for the treatment of trauma (EMDR and Sensomotor Therapy) and emotional dysregulation (dialectical-behavioral therapy).
Keywords: COVID-19; lockdown; adolescence; triggering event; perfectionism; inadequacy; trauma; cognitive behavioral psychotherapy.