Description
Book SynopsisRecognizing that problems with body image are often the lead cause of eating disorders, therapists are increasingly looking for innovative and effective ways to address these issues with clients.
This book is packed with simple, inexpensive art-based activities that use a range of media to engage with common body image concerns openly and creatively. The activities employ basic principles from Behavioral Therapy including mindfulness and emotion regulation and use common and familiar objects to create a reassuring environment. Discussion and evaluation are encouraged throughout to enhance awareness and appreciation of self. All the exercises, and their objectives, are thoroughly explained with illustrative case studies and sample artworks from the author's extensive therapeutic experience.
These adaptable art exercises will be the perfect resource for any professional to promote healthy body image in group or individual work, with girls and women. They can be used as preventative strategies with girls still developing their identities, and will be especially useful at all stages of eating disorder treatment programs.
Trade Review“Margaret Hunter provides a navigational chart with which to address the often stormy waters on the voyage to body satisfaction. The exercises will appeal to therapists, teachers, school counsellors and women; they can be used to structure therapy or educational groups. However they are used, the contents of the book promise an engaging and rewarding journey to self.” -- Lisa D. Hinz, PhD, author of Drawing from Within: Using Art to Treat Eating Disorders
“When I walk to the mirror, I intend to see myself but I assess my vehicle. I am trying to see myself, but alas it is the vehicle that is the lens that I am looking through… These are the waters that Margaret Hunter has set her course through in this beautiful text. She navigates through mirrors and lenses and culture. [She] combines the empathetic understanding of a practitioner who has metaphorically held the hands of many women with faulty lenses … with the clinician's understanding of the complexity of navigation.” -- from the foreword by Dr Richard Carolan, licensed psychologist, board certified art therapist and department chair of Notre Dame de Namur University's Art Therapy graduate program, San Francisco Bay Area
Table of ContentsForeword by Dr. Richard Carolan. Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. Hoisting the Sails: The Journey of Self-Discovery Begins. 2. Lessons from the Ocean: Riding the Waves of Emotions. 3. Art and Mindfulness: The Maiden Voyage. 4. Heroine's Journey: The Journey Begins. 5. Notion of Emotions: Rating Intensity and Environmental Influence. 6. A Woman's Purse: Reflection of Self. 7. If the Shoe Fits: Footwear for the Journey of Life. 8. Beyond Skin Deep: Barbie Finds her Voice. 9. Reframing our Frame: Celebrating the Culture of the Human Body. 10. Tree of Life: Exploration of Self in Nature. 11. Mirror, Mirror: The True Reflection of Self. 12. Vase of Flowers: Depicting Self in Still Life Form. 13. Heads and Tales: Creating a Body for Life. References.
