Eating problems, including anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, can have a devastating impact on sufferers as well as their friends and family. This self-help guide is written by a consultant psychotherapist with extensive experience of treating eating disorders and will help you identify an eating disorder and develop a toolkit of strategies to help you take steps towards overcoming the disorder. It also includes a chapter offering useful guidance for family members.
This updated second edition will help
· Understand how eating disorders develop and what keeps them going
· Find the motivation to change
· Change how you eat
· Challenge negative thinking
The Introduction to Coping series offers valuable guidance for those seeking help for emotional or psychological problems such as depression and anxiety. Each book gives useful background information and suggests techniques to change unhelpful patterns of behaviour and thinking using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques. CBT is recommended internationally to treat a wide range of emotional, psychological and physical conditions including eating disorders.
It is unhelpful at best and at worst downright harmful. If you are struggling with eating problems, or are trying to understand someone who does, do not use this book as a guide. I am astounded that certain parts were even published, as they are likely to have an extremely negative effect on anyone with an eating problem.
For those struggling with eating, it's potentially triggering and very upsetting. For those concerned about a family member, it is limited in scope and will give you a very misguided idea of what is going on. I am currently not in the worst stages of my disorder, and still found this book extremely upsetting and harmful. It almost triggered a relapse for me, so I can only imagine how dangerous it would be for someone whose disorder focused on a desire to lose weight.
If you are seeking help, please try another book. I really wouldn't want anyone else to have an experience like mine.