Hands-On Help for Eating Disorders

For those with an eating disorder, the body can become the enemy—an undesirable, unacceptable form that must be fixed at any cost. The desire to be thinner is an all-consuming obsession that drives them to restrict caloric intake to dangerous levels (anorexia) or purge themselves after eating (bulimia). Eventually, many anorexics and bulimics begin to suffer from depression and anxiety and are in a state of constant distress, fearing that one wrong step could lead to weight gain.

About a decade ago, researchers began incorporating the depression-busting and stress-reducing powers of massage therapy into the treatment of eating disorders. As expected, massage boosted dopamine and serotonin production and lowered stress hormone levels, resulting in happier, calmer patients who could better cope with recovery.

But massage therapy had another effect the researchers hadn't counted on: It decreased many patients' dissatisfaction with their bodies and improved their self-image. When massage was added to bulimics' therapy it decreased their drive for thinness and focus on perfectionism significantly more than therapy alone—even long after the massage treatment ceased. Somehow, massage was getting at the root of the problem, helping patients change the way they viewed and interacted with their bodies.

Why was massage so effective? In a word: touch. We're born with a need to be touched. Psychologists connect physical expressions of affection and security such as caressing, holding, and hugging with the healthy development of social skills, trusting behavior, self-esteem, and body image in children.

Children who are touch-deprived have a hard time building a positive conception of their own bodies. Such difficulties can lead to anorexia or bulimia, as shown by two studies from the University of Michigan Medical School. In the first, a random sample of shoppers were questioned about touch deprivation during childhood and surveyed for eating disorder attitudes (drive for thinness, perfectionism, and negative body image). Women who reported being touch-deprived during childhood were significantly more likely to possess eating disorder attitudes. The second study went on to find that women being treated for eating disorders report significantly higher levels of touch-deprivation during childhood than a random sample of women in the same age group.

Though it might seem that clinical massages later in life could never compensate for a lack of affectionate care in childhood, the results speak for themselves and show just how important touch is at every stage in life. Whether the patients were conscious of it or not, the regular, compassionate touch provided by massage therapists helped break down the antagonistic relationship patients had with their bodies. Eyes closed, lying on the table, their bodies were no longer the enemy but a vehicle for relaxation and pleasure, a healthy vessel fit to be touched—and loved.