The Therapeutic Effects of the Feldenkrais Method "Awareness Through Movement" in Patients with Eating Disorders

Press Release
Abigail H. Natenshon Combines Feldenkrais with Traditional Psychotherapy to Treat Eating Disorders

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Abigail Natenshon, MA, LCSW, GCFP
on the work of Moshe Feldenkrais
“The work of Moshe Feldenkrais can be used advantageously to augment the more traditional approaches to treating patients with eating disorders and body image disturbances. Particularly effective in treating long-term sufferers of eating disorders, victims of rape, sexual abuse, and self-mutilation, the technique creates a novel experience of body and self. For those patients who feel “uncomfortable in their own skin,” this work accesses the brain in a wholly unique way, creating alternative ways to appreciate and more accurately perceive the body and self, and to use the self with more freedom and flexibility to solve problems.”

"Feldenkrais represents a revolution in human health. Through this method we can learn to improve our living circumstances not only physically but also emotionally, intellectually and spiritually." -- Smithsonian Magazine

"I recommend The Feldenkrais Method to patients whose movement has been restricted by injury, cerebral palsy, stroke, fibromyalgia, or chronic pain. I find it to be much more useful than standard physical therapy. I also believe that the Feldenkrais Method can help all of us feel more comfortable in our bodies." -- Andrew Weil, M.D., author of 'Spontaneous Healing'

"The exercises are so simple and so ingenious...It is so clever to develop the body by making the mind and senses become aware of each side of the body separately. It increases the subtlety of sensation." --Yehudi Menuhin, concert violinist

"What I'm after isn't flexible bodies but flexible brains." -- Moshe Feldenkrais

Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc. (1904-1984), was a distinguished scientist, physicist and engineer. He earned his D.Sc. in Physics from the Sorbonne and was a close associate of Nobel Prize Laureate Frederic Joliot-Curie at the Curie Institute in Paris, where they conducted research together. He was also a respected Judo instructor and author of many books on the subject. Living in England in the 1940s, Feldenkrais found himself unable to walk after suffering a serious knee injury. He began an intense exploration into the relationship between bodily movement and healing, feeling, thinking, and learning. As a result, he restored his ability to walk and made revolutionary discoveries culminating in the development of the method that bears his name.

Feldenkrais®, The Feldenkrais Method®, Awareness Through Movement®, ATM®, Functional Integration®, FI®, and Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner(cm) are registered trademarks of The Feldenkrais Guild®.(The above quotes are taken from the web site of Robert Cowie.)

Unique New Psychotherapy / Body Awareness Groups Forming in Highland Park, Illinois

Offering a unique opportunity to heal through combining traditional (psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral) treatment techniques with a novel new approach to self-awareness and learning, (The Feldenkrais Method, Awareness Through Movement), each psychotherapy/support group experience will be preceded by one half hour of Feldenkrais body movement. To learn more, CLICK HERE

The Therapeutic Effects of the Feldenkrais Method "Awareness Through Movement" in Patients with Eating Disorders

by Laumer U, Bauer M, Fichter M, Milz H.
University at Regensburg
[Original Article in German]

Based on the movement-pedagogical concept of Feldenkrais and the findings-of disturbed body perception by eating disordered patients this research aimed at studying the therapeutical effects of the Feldenkrais Method "Awareness through Movement" with eating disorder patients, 15 eating disordered patients treated at the Roseneck hospital for behavioural medicine rated-by means of a questionnaire consisting of scales of the Body Cathexis Scale (BCS), the Body Parts Satisfaction Scale (BPSS), the questionnaire for body perception (Fragebogen zum Korpererleben; FKE), the Emotion inventory (Emotionalitatsinventar; EMI-B), the Anorexia-Nervosa-Inventory for Self-rating (ANIS) and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI)-various aspects of their eating disorder before and after participating in a nine hour course of the Feldenkrais Method.

The data of these patients were compared to those of the members of a control group, also consisting of 15 eating disordered patients who did not participate in a Feldenkrais course.

The participants of the Feldenkrais-course showed increasing contentment with regard to problematic zones of their body and their own health as well as concerning acceptance and familiarity with their own body.

Other results were a more spontaneous, open and self-confident behaviour, the decrease of feelings of helplessness and decrease of the wish to return to the security of the early childhood, which indicates the development of felt sense of self, self-confidence and a general process of maturation of the whole personality.

The outcome points to the therapeutical effectiveness of the Feldenkrais Method with eating-disorder patients within a multimodal treatment program."

This information came from an abstract translated into english from German in Entrez-PubMed called The Therapeutic Effects of the Feldenkrais Method "Awareness Through Movement" in Patients with Eating Disorders by Laumer U, Bauer M, Fichter M, Milz H University at Regensburg

Psychotherapist Abigail H. Natenshon has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders with individuals, families, and groups for the past 34 years. She is the author of When Your Child Has An Eating Disorder, A Step-by-Step Workbook For Parents And Other Caregivers, Jossey-Bass, 1999. Based on hundreds of successful outcomes, this book shepherds concerned parents step-by-step through the processes of eating disorder recognition, confronting the child, finding the most effective treatment for patient and family, and evaluating and insuring a timely recovery. A guide to eating disorder prevention, this book is useful to parents, health professionals and school personnel alike in countering the pervasive epidemic of unhealthy eating and body image concerns, and destructive media and peer influences. Her work can be reviewed further at www.empoweredparents.com, www.empoweredkidZ.com, www.treatingeatingdisorders.com.