Seeking a loving gaze – Empowering photography in treating eating disorders in adults
Keywords:
eating disorders, empowering photography, nutrition careAbstract
The aim of this study was to determine what benefits Empowering photography and its dialogical approach that involves the abandonment of professional authority could bring to the treatment of adult eating disorder patients and to the work of health care staff. The research methods included: initial interviews of the participants, a five-session workshop applying the Empowering photography method and feedback questionnaires and interviews concerning the workshops. In addition, we investigated the perceptions of health care staff about the use of the Empowering photography in clinical work.
People with an eating disorder perceive social support, mental skills as well as cognitive understanding and skills as factors promoting their recovery. The working approach used in Empowering photography aims to promote patients’ emotional skills, enable self-compassionate identity work that supports gaining a sense of meaning, and strengthen close interpersonal relationships and related interactions that promote mentalization.
Alongside the patient’s process, of equal importance are the professionals’ emotional skills and ability to encounter patients without attempting to define their individual world of experience based on their illness and symptoms or treatment goals. This transforms the traditional, professional- and evaluation-oriented approach in care into an appreciative dialogue based on an emotional bond, in which patients can define their own illness, recovery, and the meanings of these as part of their wider life experience. As a result, there is an improvement of the interaction, understanding, trust and cooperation between health care providers and patients.
All participants in the workshops were generally satisfied with the workshops and felt that the workshop process had contributed to their recovery from the eating disorder. Participants felt that the workshops brought a new way of thinking and helped them to accept themselves. All participants would recommend participation in similar groups for others with an eating disorder. The participants felt that taking part in the workshop process utilising the Empowering photography method can promote recovery from an eating disorder. According to the participants, Empowering photography could be utilized in the treatment of eating disorders and in the work of registered dietitians as one way of working and as a form of self-examination among other ways of working.
