How does psychomotor therapy change the body awareness of patients with an eating disorder? Qualitative study

Abstract

Goal: The main purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the influence of psychomotor therapy on the body experience of six individual patients with an eating disorder. During the interviews, we asked patients how they experienced their body, both neurophysiological as psychological, before and after psychomotor therapeutic interventions. It is therefore important to examine which elements of psychomotor therapy are experienced as helpful and useful in the recovery process of eating disorders.

Method: The study utilized a qualitative method with in-depth interviews as the source of information. The interview consisted of open questions, in which the respondent provides a detailed description in own words. This for obtain information from aspects such as perception and experience. 'Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis' (IPA) was used to analyze the person's psychological experiences studied through the person's own perspective. IPA is an approach to psychological qualitative research that creates themes, which seemed important in the analysis. Each theme is illustrated with the exact quotes from the interview transcripts. Because it is important to make clear what is the interpretation and the basis on which it has been built. It's all about the experiences of individuals working from the basic assumption that the individual who experiences something is the expert about their experiences.

Conclusion/ results: From the interviews, it appeared that the informants with eating disorders dispose of a distorted