First published in 1990. The subject of anorexia nervosa and, more recently, bulimia nervosa in males has been a source of interest and controversy in the fields of psychiatry and medicine for more than 300 years. These disorders, sometimes called eating disorders, raise basic questions concerning the nature of abnormalities of the motivated behaviors: Are they subsets of more widely recognized illnesses such as mood disorders? Are they understandable by reference to underlying abnormalities of biochemistry or brain function? In what ways are they similar to and in what ways do they differ from anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in females? This book will be of interest to a wide variety of people—physicians, psychologists, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, nutritionists, educators, and all others who may be interested for personal or professional reasons.

When Rebecca Lester was eleven years old—and again when she was eighteen—she almost died from anorexia nervosa. Now both a tenured professor in anthropology and a licensed social worker, she turns her ethnographic and clinical gaze to the world of eating disorders—their history, diagnosis, lived realities, treatment, and place in the American cultural imagination. Famished, the culmination of over two decades of anthropological and clinical work, as well as a lifetime of lived experience, presents a profound rethinking of eating disorders and how to treat them. Through a mix of rich cultural analysis, detailed therapeutic accounts, and raw autobiographical reflections, Famished helps make sense of why people develop eating disorders, what the process of recovery is like, and why treatments so often fail. It’s also an unsparing condemnation of the tension between profit and care in American healthcare, demonstrating how a system set up to treat a disease may, in fact, perpetuate it. Fierce and vulnerable, critical and hopeful, Famished will forever change the way you understand eating disorders and the people who suffer with them.

Over the past fifteen years, there has been a great increase in the knowledge of eating disorders in sport and effective means of treatment. In this book, the authors draw on their extensive clinical experience to discuss how to identify, manage, treat, and prevent eating disorders in sport participants. They begin by examining the clinical conditions related to eating problems, including descriptions of specific disorders and a review of the relevant literature. Special attention is given to the specific gender and sport-related factors that can negatively influence the eating habits of athletes. The second half of the book discusses identification of participants with disordered eating by reviewing symptoms and how they manifest in sport; management issues for sport personnel, coaches, athletic trainers, and healthcare professionals; treatment; and medical considerations, such as the use of psychotropic medications. A list of useful resources is included in an appendix, as well as a glossary of important terms.

Eating Disorders Anonymous: The Story of How We Recovered from Our Eating Disorders presents the accumulated experience, strength, and hope of many who have followed a Twelve-Step approach to recover from their eating disorders. Eating Disorders Anonymous (EDA), founded by sober members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), have produced a work that emulates the “Big Book” in style and substance. EDA respects the pioneering work of AA while expanding its Twelve-Step message of hope to include those who are religious or seek a spiritual solution, and for those who are not and may be more comfortable substituting “higher purpose” for the traditional “Higher Power.” Further, the EDA approach embraces the development and maintenance of balance and perspective, rather than abstinence, as the goal of recovery. Initial chapters provide clear directions on how to establish a foothold in recovery by offering one of the founder’s story of hope, and collective voices tell why EDA is suitable for readers with any type of problem eating, including: anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge eating, emotional eating, and orthorexia. The text then explains how to use the Twelve Steps to develop a durable and resilient way of thinking and acting that is free of eating disordered thoughts and behaviors, including how to pay it forward so that others might have hope of recovery. In the second half of the text, individual contributors share their experiences, describing what it was like to have an eating disorder, what happened that enabled them to make a start in recovery, and what it is like to be in recovery. Like the “Big Book,” these stories are in three sections: Pioneers of EDA, They Stopped in Time, and They Lost Nearly All. Readers using the Twelve Steps to recover from other issues will find the process consistent and reinforcing of their experiences, yet the EDA approach offers novel ideas and specific guidance for those struggling with food, weight and body image issues. Letters of support from three, highly-regarded medical professionals and two, well-known recovery advocates offer reassurance that EDA’s approach is consistent with that supported by medical research and standards in the field of eating disorders treatment. Intended as standard reading for members who participate in EDA groups throughout the world, this book is accessible and appropriate for anyone who wants to recover from an eating disorder or from issues related to food, weight, and body image.

The recent publication of the revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®) has had a profound impact on the classification of eating disorders, introducing changes that were formalized after years of study by the Eating Disorders Work Group. The Handbook of Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders is the only book that provides clinicians with everything they need to know to implement these changes in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. After an overview of feeding and eating disorders that systematically reviews the changes from DSM-IV to DSM-5®, some of the foremost scholars in each area address eating disorders in adults, children and adolescents, and special populations. Chapters on assessment and treatment, along with accompanying videos, offer comprehensive, state-of-the-art coverage that will benefit clinicians in practice, such as psychiatrists and psychotherapists, as well as mental health trainees. Clinicians will find the following features and content especially useful: Five full chapters on assessment tools cover the evolution of measures and instruments, from the primitive beginnings to the cutting edge of new technological applications. The challenges of diagnosing feeding and eating disorders in children and adolescents are also addressed. Treatment chapters cover restrictive eating, including anorexia nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, binge eating, including bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder, and other eating problems, including pica, rumination disorder, and night eating syndrome. One chapter focuses on eating problems among men and boys, who have diverse presentations, and the motivations and body image disturbances that may differ from those typically found among females. Because attunement to culturally and socially patterned characteristics of clinical presentation is essential to an informed and accurate mental health assessment, an entire chapter is devoted to clinical effectiveness in multicultural and cross-cultural settings. Each chapter ends with key clinical points to help readers focus on the most salient content, test comprehension, and review for examinations. Clinicians in both training and practice will find the book's up-to-date, DSM-5®--compatible content to be utterly essential. The Handbook of Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders belongs in the library of every mental health professional practicing today.

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?"