Nourishing the body through use of process prescriptions in group therapy

✍ Scribed by Laube, Janet Johnson ;Wieland, Veronica

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 125 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199807)24:1<1::aid-eat1>3.0.co;2-k

✦ Synopsis

Objective: This clinical report describes a creative process for developing betweensession prescriptions which sustain and strengthen the momentum of change occurring in group treatment sessions. Method: Therapists in this model use words and phrases depicting the group as a body in order to guide the treatment process and develop between-session prescriptions. Maintaining a perspective of the treatment group as a body facilitates development of member commitment to the well-being of a physical and psychological body, and between-session assignments employ the developmental phases of the therapy for illuminating the disorder and effecting its resolution. This approach was developed in an ongoing, open-ended treatment group provided at a community mental health center for 14 years.

Results: Examples are presented of process prescriptions which simultaneously address several dynamic levels: (a) the theme of interactions between the individuals in each session; (b) the particular stage of the group's development, and the ways this level of maturation determines how interactions arise and themes are selected; and (c) the underlying functions of the eating disorder. Discussion: Using the metaphor of the body to guide the language of between-session prescriptions links developmental group treatment process with members' day-to-day engagement with the eating disorder. By participating directly in the development of the treatment experience, the group members become committed to a developmental process that engages them in accountability and caring for a body, and, by extension, their own bodies.