The story of a wall, rose petals and footprints in the sand: A case study

Abstract

A young woman in her twenties suffers from anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders are usually very difficult diagnoses to work with; but in this case there were fortunate circumstances, that allowed the patient, who refused to eat enough and did not want to be a woman, to let go of her problematic ideals. She slowly opened herself to life. As she loved Authentic Movement she started to move in a very strong, primordial way and discovered how to express her feelings by moving in relationship to the wall of the room. The wall became an imaginary partner or a catalyst for her emotions. Work with dreams, as well as drawings, movement, imaginary dialogues and other forms of active imagination, as proposed by the psychology of Jung, helped her to come to her story and let her get conscious of her deeper personality. Problems with her family unfold and finally she dreams that she gives birth to a baby. She is a woman! From then on she is gaining weight.