According to a June 7, 2000 article in The New York Post ["Photo-therapy helps anorexics overcome obsession with weight", pp.8-9], anorexics who viewed nude pictures or videotapes of themselves showed improved body image and eating habits. Although skeletal, most anorexics see themselves as fat. However, an anorexic patient quoted in the article said that after viewing her pictures, she thought she looked like she "just got out of a concentration camp."
The Post reports that Dr. Ira M. Sacker has been using the treatment since 1997. Dr. Sacker is director of the Eating Disorders Program at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, New York and author of Dying To Be Thin, Understanding and Defeating Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia - A Practical, Lifesaving Guide (Econo-Clad Books 1999).
According to The Post, he was introduced to the technique by New York City photographer Helen Fisher Turk, who has used it to help hundreds of rape and incest victims deal with their trauma. Shortly after learning of her work, Dr. Sacker began sending his eating disordered patients to her. The article observes that Turk photographs or videotapes sufferers nude or semi-nude, and then has them write about the experience. The Post reports that "all of Sacker's patients have shown marked improvement."
In an attempt to discern the prevailing attitude among professionals toward this technique, I emailed several eating disorders specialists. Opinions were mixed.
Christine Hartline, M.A., Executive Director of Edreferral.com , an eating disorder referral and information service, believes that the approach shows great promise. "Photo-therapy is a very interesting and compelling topic right now," she notes in an email. "It has been used in research for years but it seems like it is finally filtering into being used in the private practice sector. I did a research project years ago on body image and that is when I first came across this subject."
Others are more skeptical. Monika M. Woolsey is a registered dietician, nutrition consultant and author of the American Dietetic Association's first book on eating disorders, Eating Disorders: Putting It All Together. She emphasizes photo-therapy's potential for sexual abuse. "I won't say it is ineffective, but it's pretty radical, and further research to be sure it's helpful and not harmful would be a good idea," wrote Ms. Woolsey in an email. Her 16 years of experience includes work in three different eating disorder treatment centers. "My main concern is that since there is a significant percentage of people with eating disorders who have issues of sexual abuse, this type of therapy could easily attract sexual predators passing themselves off as therapists. Anyone considering this treatment would need to do it in conjunction with traditional psychotherapy and do a thorough background check of the person in charge."
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