Friday, March 6, 2009: 11:00 AM-12:30 PM
Casablanca (Westin Long Beach)
Many women report the onset of their eating disorder coincided with menarche, that the frequency of their disordered eating behavior escalates when they are premenstrual, that they view their menstrual cycle with negative feelings, or that menopause has contributed to their negative body image. For them, recovery requires a new understanding of the female menstrual cycle so they can accept and embrace the experience of being in a woman’s body. This presentation shows how to help them discover, understand, and heal the connection between menstruation and body shame, between PMS and disordered eating, and between menopause and negative body image.
I. Introduction and Overview (10 min): In ancient times the “blood mysteries” (menarche, menstruation/birth, menopause) were recognized, honored, and celebrated. Ancient cultures viewed these experiences in a woman's life as sacred and powerful and created rituals to both contain the powerful energy inherent in these experiences and to protect the women transitioning into these life stages.
II. Relationship between Eating Disorders and the Menstrual Cycle (10 min): In contemporary western culture, the absence of ritual to honor these three predominant phases allows room for negative perceptions (from media and others), setting the stage for an eating disorder when a girl enters puberty. Studies in attachment theory and eating disorders tell us that what didn't happen (and should have) at certain stages of development can contribute to the development of an eating disorder. Girls and women today are not taught how to work with the powerful physical and emotional changes they experience with their menstrual cycles -- and instead attempt to control their appetites, emotions, or the size and shape of their bodies. Disconnection from and rejection of this quintessential experience of being in a woman's body can play a large role in creating and sustaining disordered eating behaviors.
III. How a new relationship with menarche, menstruation, and menopause can assist in recovery from eating disorders (20 min): Examples presented of how understanding the value of physical and emotional changes that occur throughout the cycle can assist in developing skills necessary for recovery (introceptive awareness, assertive communication, boundary setting, emotional tolerance, self care, etc.) and in reclaiming the feminine body.
IV. Examples of how to use menstrual metaphors and imagery to shift perspective and aid in eating disorder recovery. (30 min) Interactive discussion about how a deeper understanding of the physical and psychological experience of menstrual cycles (i.e. cramps, anger, fatigue, tears, hot flashes, body morphing, birth pain, etc.) can be used to understand and work with binge eating, food restriction, fat attacks, binge/purge cycles, and body image issues through developing increased proprioceptive awareness, emotional literacy, and a more positive body image.
V. Question & Answer: (20 min)
Many women and girls report that the onset of their disordered eating patterns coincided with the onset of puberty and menarche, that the frequency and intensity of their binge/purge episodes and food obsessions increase when they are pre-menstrual or menstruating, and those with amenorrhea due to eating disorders view the return of their menstrual cycles with mixed feelings. Older women report that peri-menopausal and menopausal symptoms interfere with their resolution of disordered eating behaviors and negative body image issues.
Traditional cultures around the world recognized the power found in the menstrual cycle and developed rituals and customs to teach “right” use of this power and to protect those transitioning from one physical phase to another from negative influences. Without such positive and proactive recognition and ceremony, our modern western society has denied and devalued the wisdom found in the menstrual cycle and in the female body itself. Girls and women remain vulnerable to negative messages about their bodies that are perpetuated by others in their lives or by the media. They find themselves participating in hollow dieting rituals, which degrade rather than enrich and honor their bodies.
This workshop is designed to help clinicians understand the cultural, physical, and psychological connections between menstruation and eating disorders. Through storytelling and imagery it will show how to use the metaphors inherent in the menstrual cycle to help clients discover, understand, and heal the relationship between menstruation, body shame, PMS, menopause, and their disordered eating. Techniques will be given for how to use the menstrual cycle to enhance proprioceptive awareness, develop greater emotional literacy, and create a more positive body image.
Primary Presenter:
Anita Johnston, Ph.D.
Anita Johnston, Ph.D., has been the Co-founder and Director of the Anorexia & Bulimia Center of Hawaii since 1982. In 1986, she developed Hawaii’s first in-patient eating disorders treatment program at Kahi Mohala Hospital. Currently, she is Founder and Clinical Director of the ‘Ai Pono Intensive Out-patient Eating Disorders Programs in Honolulu, Consultant to Focus Eating Disorders Program in Tennessee, and author of Eating in the Light of the Moon and Eating Disorders as Messengers of the Soul in The Psychospiritual Clinician’s Handbook. She is an international speaker and workshop leader with a private practice in Kailua, Hawaii.
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