Background: This workshop approaches negative body image from the inside out. The negative image is understood as a dissociated and shame-based “part” of the personality in need of understanding and compassion, achieved via mindful awareness, “parts” dialogue and trauma processing. The workshop consists of lecture, videos and experiential exercise.
Objectives: 1) describe the primary, internal perspective towards distorted body image in this approach. 2) name two major factors from a "parts" perspective that contribute to the intractable nature of the distorted body image. 3) name the two skills required in this approach to facilitate a more realistic body image and a more compassionate attitude towards that image.
The first step is to create healthy separation between the "observing" or aware Self and the part(s) absorbed in the eating disorder via mindful awareness.
Once this separation between the "whole" self and part of self is established, the Gestalt polarity tradition (empty chairs) is utilized to develop understanding of the shame-based part.
Understanding leads to compassion for the eating disordered part from a non-enmeshed state of consciousness, aka the aware self, the experiencing self, the observing self.
Healing of the eating disordered part occurs when that part no longer feels exiled as a "not-I" and is assisted in processing the traumatic roots of the disorder.
In my clinical experience, this negative image remains intractable in part due to two factors: (1) the “adult” or “Self” ego state becomes enmeshed or is in a state of confluence with a part (or parts) that are attached to the eating disorder (ED) and (2) the internal embodied self image (typically an ego state) is experienced as "not-I", is visually projected onto a mirror or into the mind’s eye of the client, and is viewed with disgust and condemnation.
Two skill sets are required for this work. The first is the ability to remain in the state of mindful awareness. This allows the “adult consciousness”, or the experiencing Self, to separate from the part attached to the ED and to then create something of an I-Thou relationship. In the context of such dialogue, understanding of the part grows and, with it, compassion. Self-loathing tends to decrease significantly as a result.
The second skill is to relate to the hated body image as a part of Self, i.e., an ego state, that needs understanding and compassion. Without this relationship, the body is blamed for the shame and disgust often experienced by clients with an ED, especially when a trauma history is part of the picture. In this procedure, a dialogue between the observing Self and the image/ego state in the mirror is established, leading to greater understanding of and connection to the ego state, which most often generates self-compassion.
This relationship (assuming that the ED is a part and not the whole of the client) in compassionate dialogue can be understood as a form of reparenting or an ego state-based, corrective resource. This loosens the rigidity of the image and the self-attitude it embodies, preparing the way for trauma processing and personality integration.
Andrew Seubert, LMHC, NCC, a licensed psychotherapist in private practice, is the co-director of ClearPath Healing Arts Center in Burdett, NY and Corning, NY. He has written "The Courage to Feel: the Power and Freedom of Emotional Honesty", as well as chapters in "EMDR Solutions" (1&2),"Healing Culturally Based Trauma with EMDR Therapy", and a recent article in the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research (Vol. 4:4, 2010). He is currently editing "Trauma Informed Approaches to Eating Disorders." He is an approved instructor in EMDR and specializes in working with trauma, PTSD, eating disorders, and the integration of spirituality and psychotherapy.
