guardianship

[alla]

I am translating a therapy guide about eating disorders in English and I don't understand the meaning of " guardianship "in the following context:



Friend or foe letters.This technique involves asking the patient to write two letters: one to their eating disorder as a friend and one- as an enemy(...)The letters can then be explored further, including the emotions that may have arisen during the writing. Often themes such as physical impact, guardianship and loss are evident in the letters.Can someone help"?

[Pete]

I am translating a therapy guide about eating disorders in English and I don't understand the meaning of " guardianship "in the following context:



Friend or foe letters.This technique involves asking the patient to write two letters: one to their eating disorder as a friend and one- as an enemy(...)The letters can then be explored further, including the emotions that may have arisen during the writing. Often themes such as physical impact, guardianship and loss are evident in the letters.Can someone help"?
I'm not at all familiar with this use of the word, and spending a while on Google didn't help. If it is common, it is probably psychological jargon. Here's a guess:
A guardian is a person who has taken on much the same role as a parent: controlling the life of someone. Possibly the metaphor is that the eating disorder controls the patient's life in a similar way.

I don't know that we have anyone on this forum who is specially knowledgeable in the field of clinical psychology, but it seems that someone there might be able to tell you.