How movement is used in eating disorder therapy
Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 13-19 May and the theme this year is Movement: moving more for mental health. Fiona a Highly Specialist Eating Disorder Practitioner shares how she has incorporated movement into therapy for numerous patients with eating disorders. Her long-standing fascination with psychodrama and embodiment work is evident, and she is pleased to observe a growing body of evidence supporting these practices.
Psychodrama is an integrative psychotherapy method that combines psychodynamic, systemic, and existentialist approaches. It involves creative action techniques to engage participants holistically, benefiting areas beyond psychotherapy such as education, training, community-building, and conflict resolution.
Embodiment practices utilise the body for healing, emphasising self-awareness, mindfulness, connection, self-regulation, balance, and self-acceptance to explore the link between the physical body and energy.
Here are some examples of how these therapies have been implemented with patients:
- Patient E practiced mindfulness and self-compassion and as part of her practice started to locate emotion within her body. We then worked with experimenting with various actions, tensions and postures, also visualising colour, temperature to work with the emotion. The movements varied from graceful arm gestures to vigorous shaking and jumping involving the entire body. This helped her to regulate emotions that were coming thick and fast as a result of weight restoration.
- Patient L found that using the Daily Calm/ Daily Move App was a helpful starting point - she enjoyed the body shaking exercise and then explored other options such as biodanza, ecstatic dance and 5 rhythms. This has greatly assisted in developing a close relationship with her body and utilising it as a means of expressing particularly challenging and suppressed emotions.
- Patient F used yoga as a way to regulate difficult emotions stemming from childhood trauma. She needed to take this very slowly, so we tailored the practice to be very graded and suitable for her. We also experimented with applying different pressures, ‘trying out’ different postures, and moving ‘as if she were….’ She became very interesting in regulating the vagus system and took this further by seeing a yoga therapist. She is now in recovery, has a partner and is a qualified HCP.
- Locating emotions in the body is key to working in eating disorders - typically, people will become dis-embodied, with the brain doing all the thinking and ruminating and completely ignoring cues from the body. Learning curiosity and acceptance of body sensations can help people to recover and to develop their sense of soul.
In our service, some of us utilise an embodiment workbook as a gentle approach to delve into new ways of moving and responding to the body. This contrasts with the common practice of intense and forced over-exercise that is frequently observed.
Our Eating Disorder Service is a multi-disciplinary service offering support to adults in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire with more severe presentations of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. You can find out more about this service here.
