Music, Vibrotactile Mediation and Bodily Sensations in Anorexia Nervosa: "It's Like I can Really Feel My Heart Beating"

Abstract

This article presents the theoretical, scientific, and methodological foundations for the design and implementation of an innovative technological and clinical platform that combined sound, music, and vibrotactile mediation used in a therapeutic setting by adolescents suffering from anorexia nervosa. In 2019, we carried out a pilot experiment with a group of 8 adolescent patients hospitalized in the Eating Disorders Unit of the Department of Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry of the Institut Mutualiste Montsouris in Paris. Within this clinical framework, we aimed to create conditions suitable for patients to reinvest in their “disaffected” bodily zones and internal experiences through reflecting on the sensations, emotions, and ideas generated by the sensory experiences created when sound and musical stimuli are transmitted through vibrations. The findings demonstrate the ways in which adolescent patients made use of the platform’s audiovibrotactile mediating objects to express a personal associative process through speech during their exchanges with clinical psychologists.