The Anorectic Dance: Towards a New Understanding of Inner-Experience Through Psychotherapeutic Movement

A 6-month body-oriented psychotherapeutic intervention project was conducted with a group of seven hospitalized female patients
diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa. This intervention worked as a first pilot study integrated into a larger medium-term project,
which had as its main goals to collect relevant material on the experiential and semantic levels of the body experience in
Anorexia nervosa, as well as on the assessment of the movement characteristics and preferences revealed by the patients. Data
collection included movement observation and verbal discourse analysis. The results seem to support some theoretical assumptions
and allow the interpretation of empirical findings. On the basis of this study, we propose some considerations and implications
for dance/movement therapy intervention with anorectic patients, founded on aesthetic experience and developmental-constructivist
perspectives.