Art therapy and eating disorders. Follow-up evaluation

Background. - The necessary multidisciplinary approach and the temporality of eating disorders (ED) does not easily allow an evaluation approach in follow-up, even when it is a standardized program. Work on the impact of eclectic, family and cognitive-behavioral therapies, 1, 4 and 5 years after the end of therapy, respectively, fails to show what has been beneficial to these patients in the therapies followed. On the other hand, art therapy is often seen as a complementary therapy for these patients who use control, rationalization and emotional anesthesia. Beyond the infatuation often noted, the lack of evidence is as blatant as the lack of an evaluative methodology. Objectives. - The aim is to evaluate the effects and representations of a care by follow-up art therapy (7 years). Then a differential typology of the art-therapy effectiveness of the healed subjects (ED healed) versus non-healed subjects (ED current). Method. - Population: 53 women (age: 32.7 +/- 9.27): - 27 ED current and 26 ED healed, not hospitalized for 5 years and having received art therapy treatment. Investigation tool: Adapted Questionnaire from the "Vecu de l'Echelle Clinique de Therapies Mediatises - Art Therapy" (ECTM) by Sudres. Results. - Analytical psychotherapy is the treatment approach that differentiates healed EDs from ED current EDs. It is therefore a predictive factor in the care process. Art-therapy is the basic approach and key articulation to bring the subject to essential therapeutic areas (psychoanalytical therapy and body therapy). The cost-efficiency-effectiveness ratio becomes a strong factor in art therapy. Discussion. - Recommendations for good practice of art therapy workshops with ED subjects can be outlined. Furthermore, the need to evaluate these practices with specific tools and the training of art therapists is affirmed. (C) 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.