Creative Workshop and Eating Disorders
Eating disorders (EDs) do not only affect the physical body — they are complex, profound, and often silent experiences that involve one’s identity, emotions, and relationships.
Within this delicate journey of healing and self-discovery, the Creative Workshop can become a powerful and transformative ally. It is not simply about “making art”, but about giving shape to one’s inner world through materials, colours, gestures, and images.
The materials become tools for self-expression and self-listening, helping individuals reconnect with the healthy part of themselves — the part that exists even beneath the suffering.
Those living with an eating disorder often struggle to find the right words to express their pain, fearing judgement or misunderstanding.
Through the artwork they create, people with eating disorders can speak about themselves in an indirect yet meaningful way.
They may need to explore themes such as identity, the relationship with their body, desire, anguish, judgement, anger, fear, and loneliness.
During the Creative Workshop, the specialist accompanies the individual towards the rediscovery of desire and dreams — aspects that are often repressed.
The Creative Workshop takes place in a safe, non-judgemental environment where participants can create freely, and where the focus is not on the final outcome but on the creative process itself.
The specialist supports the person through the images, creativity, and imagination expressed during the sessions, helping them to articulate and process their inner world. In this setting, once a relationship of trust has been established, each individual’s journey is guided towards personal goals, identified by the professional through ongoing work outside the studio. Between sessions, the specialist reflects on what the participant has expressed, carrying out a detailed analysis through the decoding of visual art. The aim is to foster artistic production, channelling thoughts and emotions so that they become communicable symbols.
Every direct intervention is primarily expressed through graphic means — techniques and materials — and is therefore both individualised and symbolic.
The Creative Workshop can thus represent a space that runs alongside therapeutic work.
