Body-oriented therapies for the treatment of eating disorders: A systematic review

People with eating disorders often experience disturbances of body experience across the domains of cognition, affect and perception. Some body-oriented therapies (BOT) - body-oriented psychological therapies (BOPT) and holistic body-oriented therapies (HBOT) - aim to improve mind-body connection and body experience and help people feel differently about managing their eating behaviours. This review aimed to identify and describe these BOT for eating disorders, investigate their effects and explore patients' experiences.

A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Nine databases were systematically searched. Included studies focused on BOT used to treat people with an ED diagnosis. Joanna Briggs Institute's (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklists were used to assess quality of included studies. Qualitative data on participants' experiences of BOT were synthesised using thematic synthesis and heterogeneous quantitative data synthesised narratively.

21 BOT studies were included. Three out of four RCTs showed some reduction in eating disorder symptoms, improved attitude towards the body and emotional regulation. Other quantitative studies reported improvements including emotional regulation, interoceptive awareness, body perception, and ED symptomatology. Qualitative data found positive impact on participants' subjective body experience. Variable study quality means caution is needed to interpret the impact of BOT on any outcomes.

BOT involves practice that takes time and requires repetition to make a longer-term or meaningful difference to participants' bodily experience and mind-body connection. Measures designed with a 'top-down' approach to understanding mental health might miss out on some of the embodied experiences that BOT are able to positively influence.