SPT-Fall2014

patterns. With the medication gone,
she no longer felt physically or
emotionally numb; she began to
notice more of her binges and how
they were a tool to help her to numb
herself. It was at this point that we
discussed the physiology of binging,
and how it can be used as a tool of
self-medication. Concurrently ,I also
gave into my feeding urges with
Wanda, and I consciously acted it out
by giving her a self-help book called,
When Food is Love (Roth, 1991),
which details a person’s struggle
with binge eating. The combination
of me extending myself to her and
her own personal resonance with the
woman’s story started Wanda on a
new stage of discovery in which
binge-eating and her relationship
with food became her focus. Wanda
became mindful around when she
binged, what food she binged on, and
what feelings may have triggered her.
In therapy, we looked at the cognitive
aspect of the trigger leading to a
binge to help her decipher what
feelings she was trying to move away
from, and we also explored the
physical quality of the binging:
What did it feel like in her body?
What was it like to engage with
certain textures, smells, and tastes?
Wanda began to pay even more
attention to food and to how it felt in
her body. She started to become
excited about food in more positive
ways– not just her binges. I gently
lead Wanda to become more body
aware at this stage. We explored her
sensations in her body, and what it
was like for her to be fat. Being
overweight myself at the time, we
were both able to explore her own
feelings around what it was to be fat,
and also her projections of how she
perceived me in my body and my
fatness. This called me to be both
gentle and kind to my own body in
relation to her, so we entered an
intersubjective dance of exploring
‘fatness’ and practicing selfkindness.
Her binges slowly
decreased until they almost
disappeared, and it was at this point
we entered another stage of therapy.
Through her mindfulness around
eating and her explorations of
fatness, Wanda discovered even more
so how much hatred she had turned
inwards toward herself. Wanda began
to practice being more assertive in
her relationships, ours included. She
also embarked on a journey of selfcare
and re-building her internal
mother. As our relationship had
become a secure base for her, she
began to explore outside of therapy
other things that made her feel good
such as movement, touch, drawing,
exercise, and cooking healthy food.
Every time she felt the need to binge,
she either drew upon the feelings of
security she had gotten from our
sessions, or she employed one of her
new self-care techniques. She
realised her mother was one of her
biggest triggers for binge eating, so
she became pro-active in taking care
of herself around her. Around this
stage of our therapy, Wanda was
accepted for weight loss surgery.
This became the focus of our
therapy sessions for the next few
months. She wanted to make a
decision based on what was loving
for her and her health and not be
drawn in by the voice in her head that
equated skinniness with love. Once
she felt that she was at a point where
she was making the right choice, for
the right reasons, Wanda accepted
the surgery offer. But, she told the
surgeons she was going to do it ‘her
way’ by making sure she ate things
that were nourishing for her body,
and that she was not going to get
caught in calorie counting diets or
excessive weighing. Instead, she was
going to continue her practice of
being mindful of what her body
needed. Wanda’s surgery went
remarkably smoothly. Six months out
of it she feels healthier than she ever
has in her life. Her risks of cardiovascular
disease and diabetes have
disappeared. She has also lost over
100 pounds in the process.
Wanda no longer using binging as a
self-regulation tool. She is much
more able to tolerate strong
emotions, and her interpersonal
relationships with her family have
flourished. Wanda has now left
therapy with me, but she feels much
more confident that she can feed
herself in loving ways in the world.
In Conclusion:
Feeling Your Next Mouthful of
Food
In this consumerist world of fast
food, I hope that even if you choose
not to work with binge eating clients
in your practice that you at least take
a moment the next time you put some
food in your mouth to really taste,
feel, savour, and enjoy the complete
bodily experience that food can be
and that you use this sensual
experience of ways of making food
choices that are loving for you. As
they say in Italy, ‘buon appetito’.
Debbie Cotton MA, BHSc, ND
Debbie works both as a relational body
psychotherapist and a naturopath in
London, UK. In her capacity as a
relational body psychotherapist, Debbie
employs her knowledge of physiology,
touch, movement, and the mind-body
connection into her work, taking a
holistic and relational stance with all of
her clients. As a naturopath Debbie has
both a scientific and eclectic interest in
nutrition and herbs and how they impact
our mental and physical health. She
frequently lectures, writes training
material, clinically supervises students
both in nutritional and herbal medicine,
and organises CPD in relational body
psychotherapy. If she isn’t working, you
will probably find her foraging or
cooking up some strange concoctions in
the kitchen to trial on an unsuspecting
victim. Be careful if you come to her
house for dinner, you never quite know
what manner of things you might be
served.
References on page 110
Somatic Psychotherapy Today | Fall 2014 | Volume 4 Number 2 | page 51