Towards Filling the Empty Space
Dance and Drama Therapy for the Treatment of
Eating Disorders
Tannis Hugill MA, RCC, RDT, ADTR
Eating Disorders – Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and
Binge Eating – are affecting ever-greater numbers of people
in North America and are spreading quickly to other parts of the
world. Most sufferers are women though there is an increasing
number of men. Many are teen-agers. Some are children as young
as seven.
There are many theories about why eating disorders exist and
how they should be treated. The causes, complex and different
for each individual, are usually a combination of stresses experienced
in childhood and our culture’s pressures to be thin. They
are also responses to our society’s negative attitudes towards
the body.
Individuals who develop eating disorder symptoms, whether the
self-starvation of anorexia, the bingeing and purging cycles of
bulimia or the compulsive over-eating of binge eating, are trying
to cope with unmanageable feelings. We are all brainwashed to
believe that if we were beautiful and thin, we would be successful
and happy. For someone overwhelmed by their life’s problems,
it is easier to focus on controlling their body.
Because the symptomatic arena of struggle speaks through the
body, it is important to address this directly in treatment. Dance
and Drama Therapy are both creative, experiential approaches.
They engage what is healthy in us and offer activities which give
positive experiences in and through the body.
Negative body image is central to these illnesses. Body image
is how we see our bodies in our minds, how we feel inside and
talk to ourselves about our bodies. Someone with anorexia will
see themselves as being very fat, inspite of the fact they are
extremely thin. Someone with bulimia or binge eating may see themselves
more realistically but will hate how they look.
Eating disorders are a way to communicate feelings such as abandonment,
rage, fear, grief, and shame. People with eating disorders often
speak of an emptiness or void inside. If anything they fear they
are filled with a monster. The symptoms can be seen as a kind
of fortress that protects from feeling. They are coping tools
that are very hard to give up. In denial, the individual will
often refuse treatment. But, they are very serious illnesses -
damaging to the mind, body and spirit. There are many suicides
as well as deaths from physical complications.
The specific behaviors are the tip of the iceberg. In treatment
it is crucial to attend to the underlying experience. I have used
creative, body-oriented treatment in hospital settings and in
private practice. Dance therapy is the intentional use of body
awareness and movement to bring growth and healing. It teaches
us listen to, and trust, what our bodies tell us about ourselves.
Because it is non-verbal, movement therapy bypasses the wall of
defenses that talking often re-inforces. Drama therapy helps us
understand the roles and patterns we use to express feelings by
learning to choose ones that are helpful and transform those that
are not. Clients are assisted to remain in the present moment,
bringing awareness to their experience, thus gaining knowledge
about unconscious feelings and beliefs. Thus they can make more
effective choices and create a bridge to their embodied selves.
I often begin sessions with simple stretches and movement patterns,
perhaps combined with drawing or story telling. This allows safe
exploration of the body, relieves tension, and teaches healthy
self-nurturing. Negative attitudes are transformed. One woman
who had abused herself for years began to describe herself as
‘graceful’ and glided with pleasure through the room.
In role-play we discover that the illness is both best friend
and demon. One client had a breakthrough when she chose her sister
for support, instead of the anorexia. In another a girl pushed
‘bulimia’ away with a forceful “NO!”.
Dance and drama therapy both practice setting limits with others.
Feeling safe in the body helps relationships by increasing connection
with others, instead of the eating disorder. ‘Safe-space’
dances can bring tears of relief.
The sources of pain blocked by the self-abuse of eating disorders
need to be carefully opened and take a long time to heal. There
is no magic cure. Dance and drama therapy can thaw these defenses
so individuals can find themselves. By joining with their bodies,
they are able to accept all aspects of themselves. Thus they gain
deep, vital roots to growth. New experiences of self-care create
satisfying, fulfilling lives that no longer need an eating disorder.
The empty space within flowers into a fully embodied and empowered
sense of self.
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