Date of Award
Spring 2-14-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Expressive Therapies Studies
First Advisor
Mitchell Kossak, PhD
Second Advisor
Jane Richardson, PhD
Third Advisor
Rachel Bachner-Melman, PhD
Abstract
This research explored food as an art medium in an innovative art therapy intervention for adults with eating disorders (EDs) and what this nontraditional art material can evoke. Several interventions (e.g., food exposure, cooking, and some family-based therapy) incorporate food in ED treatment, but none use it as an art medium.
Six Israeli adults (one with bulimia nervosa, two with atypical anorexia, and three with anorexia nervosa) individually participated in three meetings, each with a 30-min experiential component and an interview. While wearing a GoPro camera, participants created spontaneous artwork using foods (e.g., vegetables, legumes, pasta, flour, candy). The researcher edited the videos, allowing her and other viewers to follow the process from the participants’ viewpoints. Semistructured interviews focused on participants’ experiences of food as an art medium and their thoughts on this potential treatment.
Following each meeting, the researcher created a reflective response from food and wrote short texts, which she shared with the participants at their next session and asked for their thoughts. Follow-up meetings were held to summarize the process. The researcher’s qualitative, phenomenological, art-based data analysis revealed five major themes: (a) artistic commonalities, (b) desensitizing food-related fears, (c) food as a catalyst for psychological issues, (d) life-changing events and conditions, and (e) contradictory forces and feelings.
The results showed that food as an art medium could be a desensitizing tool against food-related fears. Food could also serve as a gateway to processing core psychological contents related to ED onset or maintenance in art therapy.
Recommended Citation
Blumenthal Yanir, Keren, "UTILIZING FOOD AS AN ART MEDIUM IN EATING DISORDERS TREATMENT" (2025). Expressive Therapies Dissertations. 1.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_therapies_dissertation/1
