Arts Therapies And Clients With Eating Disorders

Drawing on the expertise of leading creative arts therapists from around the world, this book provides a comprehensive examination of the role of the creative arts in the treatment of clients with eating disorders (EDs). The book explores how art, dance and movement, drama, music, and poetry therapies have fostered insights, growth, and recovery for patients across ED diagnoses (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and compulsive overeating disorder), and comorbid diagnoses. It illustrates how each creative arts modality is implemented in the ED treatment process and covers a variety of treatment levels (residential, inpatient, intensive outpatient and outpatient). Each chapter is enriched with case illustrations to provide a greater depth of understanding of how the methods are used in clinical practice. This book is an incomparable overview of the value and diverse uses of the creative arts in the treatment of EDs, and it will be of interest to all arts therapists, psychodrama therapists, family therapists, as well as students of these disciplines.

Creative Therapies with Eating Disorders is a comprehensive work that examines the use of art, play, music, dance/movement, drama, and spirituality to treatment issues relating to eating disturbance. The author's primary purpose is to examine treatment approaches which cover the broad spectrum of the creative art therapies. The collection of chapters is written by renowned, well-credentialed, and professional creative art therapists in the areas of art, play, music, dance/movement, and drama. In addition, some of the chapters are complimented with photographs of client art work, diagrams, and.

Eating disorders are of increasing concern in the medical and psychiatric professions. Growing awareness that the arts therapies have something unique and positive to offer led to the publication of this book by experts in all areas of the arts therapies. The symptoms and aetiology ascribed to such disorders and the treatment methods prescribed to clients are discussed, and the chapters go on to focus on the use of specific arts therapies within this area, including discussions of the theoretical models they are based on, the methodologies used and the as yet small amount of research that has been completed.

Drawing from Within is an introductory guide for those wanting to explore the use of art with clients with eating disorders. Art therapy is a particularly effective therapeutic intervention for this group, as it allows them to express uncomfortable thoughts and feelings through artistic media rather than having to explain them verbally. Lisa D. Hinz outlines the areas around which the therapist can design effective treatment programmes, covering family influences, body image, self-acceptance, problem solving and spirituality. Each area is discussed in a separate chapter and is accompanied by suggestions for exercises, with advice on materials to use and how to implement them. Case examples show how a therapy programme can be tailored to the individual client and photographs of client artwork illustrate the text throughout. Practical and accessible to practitioners at all levels of experience, this book gives new hope to therapists and other mental health professionals who want to explore the potential of using art with clients with eating disorders.

People with eating disorders often make desparate attempts to exert magical control over their bodies in response to the threats they experienced in relationships. Mary Levens takes the reader into the realm of magical thinking and its effect on ideas about eating and the body through a sensitive exploration of the images patients create in art therapy, in which themes of cannibalism constantly recur. Drawing on anthropology, religion and literature as well as psychoanalysis, she discusses the significance of these images and their implications for treatment of patients with eating disorders.

Patients with eating disorders often respond well to the creative and non-threatening environment of the arts therapies. Susan Makin, who has worked closely with anorexics and bulimics, here explores how art therapies, art therapy in particular, but also creative journalling and poetry-writing, can be integrated into a multi-disciplinary approach to the treatment of eating disorders, in conjunction with medical programmes. Makin discusses the creative work and personal accounts of around thirty patients, examining their use of media, imagery and symbolism. She analyses the patterns which emerge and explores their implications for the patient's treatment, emphasizing the importance of taking a patient-centred approach.

Art Therapy and Eating Disorders is a step-by-step approach to a new and extremely promising technique for treating people with eating disorders—children as well as adults, male and female sufferers alike—that has proven to be a crucial aid to identification, prevention, and intervention. Mury Rabin demonstrates how her award-winning art therapy technique, known as Phenomenal and Nonphenomenal Body Image Tasks or "PNBIT," can be used by clinicians other than art therapists and shows its effectiveness in combination with diverse therapeutic techniques. Unlike traditional therapy programs that treat symptoms, this technique focuses on root causes and consists of a series of tasks—some phenomenal: weight recording, mirror viewing, and body dimension estimates; others not: chromatic family line drawings and body image mandalas. The book includes five case studies that illustrate how the PNBIT technique functions in practice.

It should not surprise us that so many are finding unique value in the experiential techniques. The fact that eating-disordered patients adopt physical and often complex metaphoric means of expressing their emotional pain suggests the difficulty we are likely to encounter in asking them to articulate the inarticulable. In moving to spatial, kinesthetic, and symbolic expression, we are, in a sense, agreeing to speak the patient's language rather than our own. Given the very nature of eating disorders, many clinicians are finding that experiential methods are particularly applicable for treating patients who suffer from them. Providing a valuable new tool for practitioners, EXPERIENTIAL THERAPIES FOR EATING DISORDERS is the first text to focus solely on the application of expressive therapies and experiential techniques to the treatment of anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Each chapter of this innovative work systematically reviews a single experiential treatment approach. Among these are * guided imagery * hypnosis * structured eating * family sculpting * psychodrama and gestalt therapy * dance/movement therapy * art therapy * music therapy * and metaphor/poetry therapy. Throughout, important clinical issues that often accompany eating disorders also are addressed, including such topics as self-awareness, self-esteem, autonomy, identity, impulse regulation, affect modulation, body image, and interpersonal relationships. Countertransferential issues are examined, and areas needing further exploration such as father's role in the development of eating disorders, the hypnotizability of eating disordered patients, and the role of family in the treatment process are delineated. The contributing authors, experienced practitioners from a variety of disciplines, systematically establish the theoretical framework of each treatment approach, fully describe specific techniques, and then consider their practical applications in both inpatient and outpatient settings--providing numerous case examples for illustration. They also offer helpful recommendations for incorporating these techniques into ongoing treatment plans. EXPERIENTIAL THERAPIES FOR EATING DISORDERS--a valuable clinical resource for psychologists, psychiatrists, and all mental health professionals called on to treat patients suffering from anorexia and bulimia nervosa. This innovative work illustrates the use of guided imagery, hypnosis, structured eating, family sculpting, psychodrama and gestalt therapy, and dance/movement, art, music, and metaphor/poetry therapy in the treatment of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Systematically presented are the theoretical framework of each treatment approach, specific techniques, and their practical applications illustrated by numerous case examples. All professionals who treat clients with eating disorders will find this volume a most valuable clinical resource.