Working with clients who have disordered eating can be a challenge.
Often therapists avoid acute eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia because of both the lack of training in these areas and also the typically low success rate of clients maintaining recovery. Many in psychotherapy practice may leave eating disorders to the eating disorder specialists, who are few and far between.
Psychotherapists have more confidence in treating binge eating disorders and how to stop binge eating because it has become an epidemic. Many clients will arrive in a psychotherapy practice with other presenting concerns, however, binge eating disorder may soon become apparent.
How can psychotherapists apply spiritual methods to eating issues?
This question might cause you to think I'm suggesting encouraging clients to ask for help from the Divine. While this does have its place, it is not what I'm referring to.
The Buddhist faith has a focus on the release of attachments, meaning anything in our lives that we are overly identified with or holding on to that is hindering the enlightenment process. An example of attachment is overvaluing material objects including small things like expensive shoes or sentimental items and of course larger things like cars or houses. We may need to work hard to ensure we have enough money to maintain these things and feel overly protective of our possessions. We also may fear losing them which leads to anxiety and suffering.
So how does this apply to eating-related issues?
People with disordered eating have attachments to certain foods, disordered eating behaviors and rituals, and the disordered eating itself. These behaviors with food become the person's steadfast way of coping with emotions or situations they find painful or unacceptable. An intense attachment builds around the disordered eating and considering letting go of it brings forth both fear and grief.
Thoughts a client may have is, "How will I cope without it? How will I get through the urges? Who will I be without it?" After all, the client has had disordered eating for many years, letting go of it creates a void that yearns to be filled. This also beckons for turning to the Divine. How can they begin to turn to their perspective of spirituality to fill the void? This is too much to cover in one article, I will write another one on this specific topic.
So now what?
Even if there is an attachment, how does one let go of it? How to stop binge eating or other eating disorder behaviors with spiritual methods? Here is an exercise to begin releasing these problematic attachments.
Bring to mind a moment of disordered eating. Envision yourself there doing the behavior, whether it's a binging episode, a moment of succeeding to restrict, or otherwise. Visualize it clearly and feel the sensations it brings forth in the body. This is the attachment arising: the feelings within the body, the urges, sensations of relief, or desires.
Now envision a cord of energy leaving your body and attaching to the vision in your mind. Imagine the vision is within a bubble and the cord attaches to the whole bubble, the whole situation. Bring this cord fully into mind. Feel the sensations arising in the body as you do this.
Now bring into this visualization a pair of scissors. When you are ready, imagine the scissors cutting the cord. You may notice resistance to cutting the cord, you may notice that it's hard to get the scissors to cut the cord. This is simply showing you the level of your attachment and the fear of letting it go.
When you can, allow the scissors to fully cut the cord, witness what happens to the cord when it is cut, feel what arises in the body, what emotions come forward, and what thoughts enter the mind.
This exercise can be used over and over to address different attachments such as various foods, specific restaurants, rituals, and so forth.
Cutting energetic cords is the first step to releasing attachments. Cutting the cord can lead to overwhelming emotions and intense sensations arising in the body. Clients must allow themselves to feel and process everything that comes forward, yet may not know how to deal with big emotions they have been avoiding. They have been using this attachment to disordered eating to silence feeling it. Whatever arises in them has been there all along, yet the attachment has been used to shove it down deep within the self making the attachment to the disordered eating stronger and stronger.
It is our job to guide them to methods managing intense emotional experiences as they walk along this challenging journey.
EMDR can become very useful during this process.
As they face all that is arising, cutting attachment after attachment, we can help them to desensitize and reprocess the difficult sensations or past situations that have been hidden beneath the disordered eating.
I hope you found this helpful, I will continue to offer guidance on how to integrate spiritual interventions, techniques, and perspectives into practice. All Good Things.
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