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What can the art of anorexic patients tell us about their internal world: A case study
Author(s) -
Acharya M.,
Wood M. J. M.,
Robinson P. H.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
european eating disorders review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1099-0968
pISSN - 1072-4133
DOI - 10.1002/erv.2400030406
Subject(s) - anorexia nervosa , eating disorders , psychotherapist , psychopathology , art therapy , depression (economics) , psychology , bulimia nervosa , anorexia , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , economics , macroeconomics
Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which the patient's own image or artwork is the focus of interaction between the therapist and patient. This paper examines the artwork of a 27‐year‐old woman with a long history of anorexia nervosa with bulimic symptoms. During her in‐patient treatment, she attended art therapy and body image therapy, where her ratings of her own body size were recorded. Various aspects of the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa including body image disturbance, depression and obsessive compulsive features are well illustrated here by the images produced during art therapy.