Catherine Hervais proposes a new outlook and treatment for bulimia.

A clinical psychologist, she has been extremely well-trained in a variety of therapeutic approaches: psychoanalysis, Ericksonian approach, Gestalt therapy, etc., at the hands of psychotherapists renowned in the USA and France. She knows what she’s talking about because she herself suffered from purging bulimia for many years.

I read her two works— Les toxicos de la bouffe: la boulimie vécue et vaincue and Vivre et communiquer avec un proche boulimique-anorexique —with great interest. I was struck by the effective tone of her film, “Boulimie et Thérapie”. In training courses, I often show this film because it provides insight into the internal aspects of bulimia. The video says everything. By watching it, one can grasp what is really meant by the term “borderline” and learn more generally about the severe affective trouble linked to early childhood.

Catherine Hervais’ central thesis is that eating disorders are not just about the eating behaviors, but represent a symptom of a more general problem of personality and relationships, related most of the time to personality disorders. Although new, Catherine Hervais’ approach is based largely, but not exclusively, on Gestalt therapy. Moreover, she goes beyond current trends in Gestalt therapy that tend (despite being empathetic and authentic) to make one more withdrawn. If there is a link between Catherine Hervais’ practice and Gestalt therapy, it is to be found in the early years of Gestalt therapy when its creator, Fritz Perls, hunted down his patients’ deceptions to provoke them into discovering and accepting their authentic sides. Progress in neurophysiology today shows that these types of people need to learn how to manage their emotions and how to connect with others in their affective lives.

Gentle and empathetic in the moments when a person totally lacks inner resources, she doesn’t hesitate to be confrontational in order to help eating-disordered people understand how they respond (or don’t respond) in their relationships. Like Perls, she uses the here and now to inspire eating-disordered people to be authentic, to encourage self-expression, and to share emotions most often in groups, where everyone “works” in their own rhythm and on their own vision of the world, without focusing on the symptom of bulimia… Adapting therapy for specific patients allows for encouraging, profound, and durable results on the whole personality. The disordered eating behaviors as well as the obsession disappear of their own accord at the end of several months or years.

Serge Ginger