What do you think?
Rate this book
A Practical Guide to Treating Eating Disorders: Overcome Problem Eating
From comfort eating and skipping meals to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, our relationship with food is at breaking point. With expert advice from an experienced psychologist, this book will help you get back on track and get the help you need. BREAK BAD HABITS and replace them with better ones UNDERSTAND YOUR ISSUES so you can move forward LOVE YOUR BODY by learning to accept yourself OVERCOME YOUR FEARS and discover how to enjoy food again
- GenresNonfiction
227 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 7, 2014
122 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 24, 2020
Very interesting and informative little book.
February 4, 2023
Another diet/nutrition book, I can't get enough of them.
April 11, 2023
Well Written
I thoroughly enjoyed the layout of this book beginning from the history of how these disorders came about. Very solid solutions
I thoroughly enjoyed the layout of this book beginning from the history of how these disorders came about. Very solid solutions
March 21, 2024
I wouldn't say that this book fixed my binge eating problems but the charity Eating Disorders Support of which Patricia has been part has been very helpful to me.
April 7, 2025
might have rated it higher if the author wasn't a sniveling TERF
March 10, 2016
Fantastic little introduction to the topic
March 30, 2017
"one of the prime motivations for helping someone recover is to put the sufferer back in touch with themself as a whole, unique person"
This was a really helpful little book. I've been struggling with self-esteem for a long time, and often neglect meals or use food deprivation as a short term punishment. This book had a broad enough focus that I felt that the content was relevant to me, alongside providing information on eating disorders which are more broadly acknowledged by the public.
I learned a lot about the soft boundary between normal and problem eating, which was helpfully separated from BMI ("the BMI was originally developed for comparing different populations and never intended for individual diagnosis") and specific habits. Psychologically-driven relationships with food become so ingrained it can be difficult to keep a perspective on normality. Having terms like "orthorexia", the excessive preoccupation with achieving a "normal" or "healthy" diet, has been enlightening. Also, I had little awareness of the different types of bulimia or pica disorder before reading this book.
"Instead of using food to nourish our body we use it to silence our pain, frustration, and anger."
I found the level of science and psychology reassuring and appealed to my very objective way of understanding my thought processes."People develop an eating disorder as a subconscious protection from emotional pain." I was surprised to find that eating disorders most commonly affect successful people with low self-esteem and people who have suffered sexual abuse. "Many people suffering from bulimia appear extremely confident and outgoing." The link between self-esteem building exercises and improved relationship with food was a new idea for me. I also felt my trust in the author increase when she cited scientific work, such as the finding that sufferers of annorexia have chronically decreased size of the part of the brain called the insula similarly to opiate addicts. It was also sobering to read that the introduction of television to the island of Fiji changed eating disorders from a cultural unknown to a similar proportion and demographic to that seen in the UK. However, I was surprised and concerned by the chapter on alternative therapies. Although these can be valuable as a placebo and a social or self-esteem building activity, I think it would have helped to state this alongside the proviso that these approaches will be less helpful for people of a scientific mindset.
"It is the sufferer's inability to communicate their needs in a healthy format that has led them to express themself so destructively in the first place."
I now understand much better the feelings of safety and control which eating disorders create and the interaction between punishment behaviour and fuelling further low self-esteem. Finding out about cognitive analytic therapy, and just generally having the emotional processes behind behaivours decoded for me has really been thought-provoking.
"To solve a problem you must first acknowledge it, understand it and acquire the skills needed to defeat it."
This was a really helpful little book. I've been struggling with self-esteem for a long time, and often neglect meals or use food deprivation as a short term punishment. This book had a broad enough focus that I felt that the content was relevant to me, alongside providing information on eating disorders which are more broadly acknowledged by the public.
I learned a lot about the soft boundary between normal and problem eating, which was helpfully separated from BMI ("the BMI was originally developed for comparing different populations and never intended for individual diagnosis") and specific habits. Psychologically-driven relationships with food become so ingrained it can be difficult to keep a perspective on normality. Having terms like "orthorexia", the excessive preoccupation with achieving a "normal" or "healthy" diet, has been enlightening. Also, I had little awareness of the different types of bulimia or pica disorder before reading this book.
"Instead of using food to nourish our body we use it to silence our pain, frustration, and anger."
I found the level of science and psychology reassuring and appealed to my very objective way of understanding my thought processes."People develop an eating disorder as a subconscious protection from emotional pain." I was surprised to find that eating disorders most commonly affect successful people with low self-esteem and people who have suffered sexual abuse. "Many people suffering from bulimia appear extremely confident and outgoing." The link between self-esteem building exercises and improved relationship with food was a new idea for me. I also felt my trust in the author increase when she cited scientific work, such as the finding that sufferers of annorexia have chronically decreased size of the part of the brain called the insula similarly to opiate addicts. It was also sobering to read that the introduction of television to the island of Fiji changed eating disorders from a cultural unknown to a similar proportion and demographic to that seen in the UK. However, I was surprised and concerned by the chapter on alternative therapies. Although these can be valuable as a placebo and a social or self-esteem building activity, I think it would have helped to state this alongside the proviso that these approaches will be less helpful for people of a scientific mindset.
"It is the sufferer's inability to communicate their needs in a healthy format that has led them to express themself so destructively in the first place."
I now understand much better the feelings of safety and control which eating disorders create and the interaction between punishment behaviour and fuelling further low self-esteem. Finding out about cognitive analytic therapy, and just generally having the emotional processes behind behaivours decoded for me has really been thought-provoking.
"To solve a problem you must first acknowledge it, understand it and acquire the skills needed to defeat it."
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews