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How to Save Your Own Life
There are a thousand books about eating disorders, taking everything from gender to age into account. But they have a habit of assuming that you're neurotypical, and that your brain works in a very specific way.
Not exactly helpful if yours doesn't!
In this essential self-help guide, Rachel Clark shares what she's learned from her own experiences as an autistic and ADHD young person with anorexia, and how you can use it for your own recovery. She explores how eating disorders can be a coping mechanism for the stress of a neurotypical world, and how autism can both create the ideal environment for an eating disorder to develop, but also provide key tools to overcome it. Practical exercises help you get to grips with your ED in a way that suits your brain, and advice from direct experience supports you in advocating for yourself and creating an environment where you can save your own life on your own terms.
Not exactly helpful if yours doesn't!
In this essential self-help guide, Rachel Clark shares what she's learned from her own experiences as an autistic and ADHD young person with anorexia, and how you can use it for your own recovery. She explores how eating disorders can be a coping mechanism for the stress of a neurotypical world, and how autism can both create the ideal environment for an eating disorder to develop, but also provide key tools to overcome it. Practical exercises help you get to grips with your ED in a way that suits your brain, and advice from direct experience supports you in advocating for yourself and creating an environment where you can save your own life on your own terms.
- GenresNonfiction
192 pages, Paperback
Published April 21, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 23, 2026
‘How to Save Your Own Life’ is a powerful and compassionate guide that will bring hope to so many people. Rachel’s writing is deeply honest and will transform the way autism and eating disorders are understood. It will truly change lives.
April 25, 2026
How to Save Your Own Life examines the overlap between autism and eating disorders without treating autism as the issue that needs fixing.
The author makes a clear distinction between autistic needs and eating disorder behaviors. She explains that for some autistic individuals, an eating disorder isn’t about body image but about control, survival, routine, escape, and coping with a world that isn’t accessible. The goal isn’t just to stop the behaviors but to understand their purpose and address the underlying needs so those behaviors are no longer necessary.
The book also highlights how treatment can fail when clinicians focus only on surface-level behaviors and overlook the individual. It discusses how clinical care can feel dehumanizing. The risks of removing an eating disorder can be catastrophic without addressing the need that the disordered eating met. The author writes from personal experience but avoids presenting her story as universally applicable, which strengthens the book’s credibility.
It balances personal narrative with factual information about starvation, nutrition, exercise, and the physical effects of eating disorders. This combination keeps the argument grounded and the writing clear and precise.
This isn’t a clinical or research-focused book, so it may not suit readers looking for that approach. But as an exploration of how autism and eating disorders intersect, it’s insightful and fills a gap in the ND conversation that has been ignored.
The author makes a clear distinction between autistic needs and eating disorder behaviors. She explains that for some autistic individuals, an eating disorder isn’t about body image but about control, survival, routine, escape, and coping with a world that isn’t accessible. The goal isn’t just to stop the behaviors but to understand their purpose and address the underlying needs so those behaviors are no longer necessary.
The book also highlights how treatment can fail when clinicians focus only on surface-level behaviors and overlook the individual. It discusses how clinical care can feel dehumanizing. The risks of removing an eating disorder can be catastrophic without addressing the need that the disordered eating met. The author writes from personal experience but avoids presenting her story as universally applicable, which strengthens the book’s credibility.
It balances personal narrative with factual information about starvation, nutrition, exercise, and the physical effects of eating disorders. This combination keeps the argument grounded and the writing clear and precise.
This isn’t a clinical or research-focused book, so it may not suit readers looking for that approach. But as an exploration of how autism and eating disorders intersect, it’s insightful and fills a gap in the ND conversation that has been ignored.
May 30, 2026
„How to save your own life“ is a book that will be able to give hope and shine a light for people who have previously been misunderstood and left in darkness.
As an autistic therapist to be I have had many of the perspectives highlighted in the book already thought about by myself, however it is very helpful to see them written out and explained so well. I personally have never struggled with anorexia but other harmful coping mechanisms for growing up undiagnosed autistic and I think many things can be transmitted.
I think what makes this book so motivational is the dialectics between being deeply caring and supportive of the person as they are and at the same time emphasizing why change is still necessary. Very well done :)
My only critique:
- sometimes the chapter title didn’t really match the content in my perception, e.g. the one titled about autistic strengths used in recovery was more about how autistic needs fuel the addictive cycle of eating disorder behaviors.
- i have wondered how generalizable the book is to binge eating and other eating disorders where weight restoration does not play a huge role in recovery. I think the book parts about the mental recovery would be generalizable but the chapters that normalized and encouraged to accept weight gain/rehabilitation would be rather specific to anorexia etc. Although unlearning fear of weight gain may play a role in binge eating too but in a different way? So I’m a bit ambiguous about that.
All in all I have felt very cared for reading this book and it means the world to me as I have also read a lot when I was not yet diagnosed but nothing ever really resonated with me. So since knowing I’m autistic I get to discover all the wonderful books written by autistic women and finally I feel seen - thanks Rachel <3
As an autistic therapist to be I have had many of the perspectives highlighted in the book already thought about by myself, however it is very helpful to see them written out and explained so well. I personally have never struggled with anorexia but other harmful coping mechanisms for growing up undiagnosed autistic and I think many things can be transmitted.
I think what makes this book so motivational is the dialectics between being deeply caring and supportive of the person as they are and at the same time emphasizing why change is still necessary. Very well done :)
My only critique:
- sometimes the chapter title didn’t really match the content in my perception, e.g. the one titled about autistic strengths used in recovery was more about how autistic needs fuel the addictive cycle of eating disorder behaviors.
- i have wondered how generalizable the book is to binge eating and other eating disorders where weight restoration does not play a huge role in recovery. I think the book parts about the mental recovery would be generalizable but the chapters that normalized and encouraged to accept weight gain/rehabilitation would be rather specific to anorexia etc. Although unlearning fear of weight gain may play a role in binge eating too but in a different way? So I’m a bit ambiguous about that.
All in all I have felt very cared for reading this book and it means the world to me as I have also read a lot when I was not yet diagnosed but nothing ever really resonated with me. So since knowing I’m autistic I get to discover all the wonderful books written by autistic women and finally I feel seen - thanks Rachel <3
May 3, 2026
How to Save Your Own Life by Rachel Clark is a welcome addition to the books on eating disorders. In a candid style, the author provides a much-needed perspective on eating disorders and the neurodivergent/autistic brain. Vulnerably sharing her own experiences, Clark implores those battling with eating disorders to find much-deserved help while providing information that she wished she had during her own recovery process. I highly recommend anyone working with teens, especially those with autism or exhibiting any kinds of food issues, to read this book. I am grateful for the opportunity to review an advanced ebook copy from NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers in exchange for my honest review.
April 30, 2026
A must-have guide for anyone looking for a glimpse of hope, and the reassurance that however impossible things may seem, someone believes in you. Thank you Rachel for writing this gift of a book that I’m sure will bring comfort to so many ❤️.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews