Patients’ Experience of Attending a Binge Eating Group Program – Qualitative Evaluation of a Pilot Study

Introduction We developed a group program for patients with binge eating disorders (BED), comprising cognitive therapy, affect consciousness, and therapeutic writing. We wished to investigate how therapeutic writing and affect consciousness were experienced by the patients when integrated in a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program. To our knowledge, such an intervention has not been tried in patients with BED. Aim: To explore patients’ experience of attending a binge eating group program comprising therapeutic writing, affect consciousness, and CBT. Research question: How do patients evaluate their experience of attending an integrative binge eating group program? Method: A qualitative design using an evaluative focus group interview with participants (four women and two men) who had completed the pilot program. Results: Three themes emerged: Enhanced self-awareness about the meaning of feelings; A more generous attitude towards oneself; and On the path to a better grip on the eating difficulties. Discussion: We interpreted the three themes in light of transition processes. The program was described as an essential part of the healing process and seems valuable for enabling new approaches leading to therapeutic changes when suffering from BED.

“Writing by Prescription”: Creative Writing as Therapy and Personal Development

This chapter investigates how-to books on creative “life writing” for therapy, transformative learning, and personal development, in short, therapeutic writing. This subgenre of writing advice is situated in two different domains with psychology and pedagogy on the one hand, and life writing and creative writing on the other hand. After a brief overview of the history of therapeutic writing, we focus on Jessica Kingsley Publishers (JKP), a leading international niche publisher in the field of neurological and cognitive differences. JKP offers a combination of popular-science books, memoirs, and self-help publications, as well as a series of how-to books on writing for therapy or personal development. By this specific grouping of genres and formats, JKP turns its readers into writers and also guides the process of writing by setting out standards for narratives about neurological illness and disability, both in content and form. Combining both textual and contextual analysis, we examine the advice oeuvres of three JKP authors, Gillie Bolton, Kate Thompson, and Celia Hunt, to see how they relate to the therapeutic and self-help ethos as well as to more literary forms of creative writing, and how they negotiate the ideas of becoming a writer through craft, therapy, and self-expression.

Literature And Writing

Penggunaan literatur secara terapeutik sebagai alat penyembuhan dalam konseling dikenal dengan berbagai nama. Di Barat, perkembangan terapi melalui tulisan disebut dengan berbagai istilah yaitu: theraupetic letter writing, expressive writing, therapeutic writing, scriptotherapy, dan dikaitkan dengan narrative therapy serta Morita therapy (White dan Murray, 2002; Soper dan Bergen, 2001; Felthan, 2000; Adams, 1999; Riordan, 1996).