Real Conversation Eating Disorders

When a friend or family member shows signs of an eating disorder, the first impulse is to charge in, give advice, and fix what is wrong. But these tactics-however well-intentioned-can backfire. This compassionate guide offers ways to tackle the tough topics of body image, media messages, physical touch, diets, and exercise-along with a special section on talking about these issues with children. It includes information about when to get professional help, how to handle emergencies, and answers to difficult questions such as "Am I too fat?" or "Is this ok to eat?"

When a friend or family member shows signs of an eating disorder, the first impulse is to charge in, give advice, and fix what is wrong. But these tactics-however well-intentioned-can backfire. This compassionate guide offers ways to tackle the tough topics of body image, media messages, physical touch, diets, and exercise-along with a special section on talking about these issues with children. It includes information about when to get professional help, how to handle emergencies, and answers to difficult questions such as "Am I too fat?" or "Is this ok to eat?"

You do not need any convincing that there is a problem. You desperately want to recover. Maybe you have hit rock bottom, or perhaps you are on the verge of hitting rock bottom. Maybe you have mustered up the courage to say enough is enough. But you are addicted and trapped. You are entirely engulfed in an eating disorder, feeling weak and helpless. You are looking for a lifeline. Now what? Megan Johnson is here to tell you how she found a way out! Megan is a Christ-follower who struggled with anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating, and exercise addiction. Her recovery journey involved an intensive outpatient program, meeting with her pastor’s wife, and lots of counseling. In this book, Megan takes you on a series of coffee dates. She provides you with biblical truths and practical wisdom to aid in your recovery journey.

Teens struggling with an eating disorder or negative body image will find solace in the riveting real-life stories compiled in this book. In first-person accounts, young adults discuss their efforts to overcome challenges including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. Whether offering details of in-patient treatment, discussing their attempts to find balance in their lives and eating habits, or recounting how the love of a sport helped them overcome an eating disorder, these teens tell their stories with compassion and unflinching honesty, offering guideposts for readers confronting similar issues.

"The last book by the world's leading authority on the emotional aspects of anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders shows how this remarkably gifted healer helped many desperate young women."--From back cover.

Despite the relevance of eating disorders in the past years, the pure core of these mental disorders remains unknown. In this regard, it is not a surprise that the biopsychosocial model is the best way to go forward in order to understand and to improve the different approaches, biological (mainly neurobiological), psychological, and social, in managing these disorders. Eating disorders are frequent pathologies, many times severe and often devastating for patients and their families. Biological, psychological, and social factors are always involved in these disorders, and knowledge about the influence of these factors helps us to better understand eating disorders. This book includes different studies about main topics of eating disorders and is useful for psychologists, doctors and others interested in this disorder.

From Publisher's Weekly: This posthumous collection of case material illustrates the treatment modality successfully employed by psychiatrist Bruch with patients suffering from the eating disorder of anorexia. Two of her associates at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston have edited this final work, taped by the author before her death in 1984. Bruch makes the reader privy to the therapeutic transaction between her patients who are in what she describes as "the relentless pursuit of thinness.'' Emphasizing the conversational ambiance of the therapy and discounting heretofore unsuccessful approaches of psychoanalysis and behavior modification, she helped her patients to heal. The dramatic dialogues in the cases presented allow us to hear these desperate young anorexic women individually explore their thwarted development, under the direction of a compassionate physician who guides them towards wellness.

When an eating disorder (ED) is involved, the problems caused by miscommunication can have serious consequences. A remark from a parent that is intended as positive encouragement could act as a trigger and a criticism from someone with an ED might really be a cry for help. This book aims to improve communication between someone with an eating disorder and their friends and family by revealing the eating disorder mind set and decoding language choices. Using examples of real-life, everyday conversations, ED says U said translates the highly charged language of anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder and unravels the emotional chaos that can surround sufferers and those who care for them. It provides clear examples of the common pitfalls and gives invaluable advice about how to help in defusing the triggers and regaining the personality swamped by the illness. A unique resource of information on EDs, this book will be essential reading for everyone who has been affected by eating disorders: sufferers, carers, family and friends, together with health care professionals treating people with eating disorders.