Beating Eating Disorders Step by Step: A Self-Help Guide for Recovery

by Anna Paterson

People living with eating disorders find it hard to take the step of choosing recovery, often because the disorder has developed as a way of 'coping' with problems or stresses in the their life. This book outlines new and positive ways of dealing with eating disorders for people living with eating disorders and their families. A practical workbook written by someone who has lived with eating disorder, it provides advice and strategies to aid understanding and to help the reader to gain control of their illness. Anna Paterson leads the reader through easy-to-use therapeutic exercises, such as describing the pros and cons of an illness, writing a farewell letter to it, and using role-reversal scenarios to get a new perspective on their attitude to eating. She emphasizes the importance of taking things at your own pace and in the final section of the book provides a set of diet plans specifically designed for anorexics, bulimics and compulsive overeaters. This book will be valued by people living with eating disorders and their families, and also the psychologists and psychotherapists, counsellors, health professionals and social workers who work with them.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2008

Reviews

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book super helpful - I'm on my second read within a couple of months.

She starts out by divulging her personal story, and at first I thought "Oh, enough with the woe-is-me, I don't care about your story!" but in time I came to appreciate her sharing it and the real examples that come from it.

Overall I found this book quite relatable as well as informative, as it addresses various aspects of the development and de-development (if you will) of eating disorders, as opposed to some others I've seen which focus exclusively on eating patterns at the expense of psychological and emotional components.