The article is devoted to the identification of clinical and pathological features of parents/caregivers of patients with anorexia nervosa. The study included 110 patients, including 47 (42.7 %) men (fathers of patients with AN) and 63 (57.3 %) women (mothers of patients with AN). The mean age of the subjects was M=44.90 (SD=5.9; SE=0.567), the minimum age was 34 years, the maximum age was 63 years.

The following methods were used in the study: DERS emotional regulation difficulty scale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale TAS-26, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The DERS scale revealed a relatively pronounced manifestation in the subscales characterizing difficulties in behavior related to goal achievement (19.13 points out of 25 possible) and impulsivity of emotional manifestations (24.17 points out of 30 possible). This combination mainly characterizes a person as unable to make an informed decision, acts spontaneously when experiencing negative emotions, and other subscale scores are above average, indicating problems with emotional regulation in this group of subjects. The results obtained by the TAS methodology showed that the average group indicator of the study group is 80.45 (SD=13.699), which characterizes the average type of the studied individuals as alexithymic.

The analysis of the results obtained by the indicators of the HADS methodology revealed that the average values are equal to: on the anxiety scale M=7.96 (SD=1.347), on the depression scale M=7.95 (SD=1.442). According to the assessment criteria of the methodology, these indicators can be considered as the extreme limit of the norm or subclinically expressed anxiety and depression.

The obtained results emphasize the need for further development of differentiated measures for the correction and prevention of clinical and pathological disorders in parents/caregivers of patients with AN by improving the levels of emotional regulation, alexithymia, anxiety and depression.