As published in Groupsnet Journal October 2012.

The value of body-awareness work with eating disorder clients 

The suffering of an eating disorder can be a very painful physical experience, but the foremost catalyst for the illness, and the fuel that perpetuates it – is very much in cognitive processing. Many sufferers are high achieving, perfectionistic, self-critical, ambitious, sensitive and worriers. Having thought and analysed their experiences for much of life, a sufferer inevitably tries to solve an eating disorder with their most familiar strategy – by thinking about it. 

Whilst talk therapy when supportive and directive can be significantly helpful for eating disorder clients, there is enormous value for experiential learning in how to process emotion without getting stuck in the thinking it ignites. Living with an eating disorder can make it very uncomfortable to connect to and feel the body. The head is a safe (familiar) and distracting place where some retreat can be found. But by continually hiding in the head, no true healing can be initiated. There may need to be a period of waiting for that readiness, of contemplating the next phase of deeper work before venturing there – and this needs to be respected.

But eventually, when fuller recovery is committed to- there needs to be an aspect of treatment which teaches clients how to do this self-work on an ongoing basis, to foster an independence in self-management not only in thinking correction, positive reframing and reflection, but in experiential body-centred tools which can allow for much deeper shifts in a client’s perception of their world, the nature of their emotions, and their empowerment to reclaim the direction of their emotional experience. They’re not just learning to distract from, understand, or accept the emotion – but to be a conscious part of shifting it from their system.

In my experience many clients have found the practices of yoga, meditation, journaling and creative therapies supportive, as they help bridge back into a bodily connection. These practices break the momentum of over-thinking, and provide a lived experience of a more balanced state of natural calm. This can then be a marker for noticing when thinking is overtaking the body- when they can no longer feel their body, but are bombarded with demanding thoughts. It is a gradual but consistent choice to come back to the body that allows a new ‘normal’ to be established.  For calm to be a known territory to return to. For the body to feel like a safe place again.

These practices are powerful, because presence, body awareness and a sense of calm is a pretty good description of the opposite of an eating disorder. The more energy directed towards this commitment, the more it is taken away from the snowballing thoughts of the illness. Rather than trying to control and fight the eating disorder, it is then possible for the client to come into contact with what they already have within them, the resources that have always been there – and allow this growth to be their focus.

Jacqueline is a professional counsellor in private practice, and also works with The Butterfly Foundation – a support service for those affected by eating disorders. Jacqueline’s interests are in body-centred psychotherapy, the use of writing and narrative in the healing process and nutrition for holistic wellness. She is currently completing her Masters in Clinical Psychotherapy, and hopes to contribute to creating improved, compassionate, innovative and comprehensive support for sufferers of eating disorders.