This work consists of a study about anorexia nervosa from a psychoanalytical perspective. Firstly, we will present a historical view of the concept, focusing the trajectory of such pathology, which was originally rare and has become frequent in current clinical practice. We discuss the contributions brought by psychoanalysis to the study and clinical management of anorexia nervosa throughout its various attempts to explain it, even though anorexia nervosa is not a psychoanalytical concept. We also approach the relationship between anorexia nervosa and thinness as a contemporary beauty ideal, especially the emphasis assigned to the thin body in actual society and its consequences.