An Internal Family Systems Guide to Recovery from Eating Disorders: Healing Part by Part

by Amy Yandel Grabowski

Drawing on the evidence-based Internal Family System (IFS) therapy model, An Internal Family Systems Guide to Recovery from Eating Healing Part by Part addresses the necessity of healing the eating disorder sufferer's three groups of inner "Parts": the Mentors, the Advocates, and the Kids. In order to reconnect to their sense of Self and to achieve an inner balance necessary for recovery, the listener learns to address the unique needs of each of their "Parts."

Written in an accessible style, this book combines compassionate examples from the author's client cases and her own recovery with a step-by-step framework for identifying and healing the listeners' Parts using the IFS model. Each chapter ends with questions for the listener to answer to further enhance their personal recovery. An Internal Family Systems Guide to Recovery from Eating Healing Part by Part will be essential to mental health professionals treating clients with eating disorders and to the clients themselves.

PLEASE When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology

Audible Audio

Published September 6, 2022

Reviews

[An · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a book that gets it! In clear, easy to comprehend language the author introduces us to the IFS model for recovery and applies it the the world of eating disorders, of which emotional eating is my own personal flavour. With kindness and loving support, she helps the reader to unravel their own parts, like the bully (inner critic), the exile (hurt inner child) and different troublemakers (or maladjusted coping strategies), and help them heal, transform into their best selves and cooperate with one another for our greatest good. This book alone will not change the challenges we've all been dealing with for decades, but it does form a solid foundation to build on.

If you've ever fallen into the 'must lose weight to be worthy or loveable' trap, this book is an absolute game changer. I can only dream of the day its contents is standard knowledge.

4.5 stars

[Agnis J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book on recovery from self-hatred to loving oneself!

I love the reflection exercises at the end of each chapter and also the many cases used to illustrate the process of healing exiles and negotiating with protectors. The author used a very clear, concise and fun language to distill IFS theory and explain how it applies to eating disorders and other areas of life. Awesome book! I’ll read for a second time now to
slowly digest the exercises in my journal.

[Kony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed this adaptation of IFS, which offers a slightly modified cast of Part characters: Exiles that morph into Kids when healed, Bullies that morph into Mentors, Troublemakers that morph into Advocates, and the Wise One Within who offers gentle guidance.

I did find this roster of parts a little simplistic and underdeveloped, and the therapist-client dialogues struck me as somewhat contrived. Still, I appreciated the way client stories and scenarios were woven in, illustrating a range of ways these parts can show up and be worked with.

Written in compassionate and accessible language addressed to the person in recovery. Occasionally a tad hokey for my taste; YMMV.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

IFS is one of the most intuitive and compassionate therapeutic modalities and this is the first book that I know of that explores IFS and EDs in depth. It does a great job of breaking down IFS in layman’s terms and applying it to the experiences of those with eating disorders. I think it is very readable for clients and also helpful for professionals to better understand the process and language of IFS.

My complaint is the anti-fat bias. I literally crossed out parts of sentences throughout my book to make it more fat friendly. It wasn’t difficult and it’s disappointing that the fat phobia wasn’t eliminated to begin with. I hope future copies of this book are more inclusive.

[Bri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very powerful book. With so many modalities emphasizing rectifying the fragmented self, I really love the idea of allowing fragmented parts to exist and what purposes they serve the self. It much more congruent with the techniques of DBT. The C’s of self can be a very powerful tool for individuals with ED especially AN.

[Elise Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so insightful. Everyone who works with individuals with eating disorders should give it a read. I feel like the way IFS works to reduce shame, and uses the lens of unmet needs and positive intentions, is where current eating disorder treatment practices are missing the mark.

[Annabella Kuehn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chat mind your own business

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent examples, diagrams and practical information to use IFS with clients struggling with EDs. Will refer back to this book lots!

[Lisa W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amy Yandel Grabowski (AYG) says
after years of chronic traumatic invalidation, you lost your voice, choice and personal power.
Healing your parts restores your voice, choice and personal power.

This is my favorite book on IFS - especially for eating disorders. AYG shares her personal and professional journey of healing with eating disorders. Chock full of useful, tactical and practical skills and interventions.

Notes:
Superb: Ch 3 on Inner Exiles, Bullies and
“without a voice and a choice we lose our power…”

🟥🟥@ 1:50 ch 4 Self meditation (I read/listened to the Audiobook)

🟥🟥 Ch 5 -Bullies = INNER Critics, Judges, Perfectionists, need to be heard, appreciated and taken care of by Self in you.

You enter the Self, feel the Cs, Curiosity, Calm, Compassion ++ then proceed. Need to get other parts who may try to protect you out of the way so you can connect with the Bully.

🟥F/U:
Ch 7 -
Look up the Cs of the « Self
Path meditation » from IFS web site.
Trouble makers are either Distracting, Numbing or Rebelling.

Bullies - Become wise Mentors

Exiles - become happy children

DRN = they are helping by Distracting Rebelling and Numbing. In RECOVERY, Troublemakers and Firefighters become Wise Advocates.

🟥see ch 8 re the 3 VALUES questions at top of chapter.