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Overcoming Bulimia Nervosa and Binge-Eating: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques
As many as one in 20 women in the western world suffer bouts of uncontrolled binge - eating. Going without food for long periods, making yourself vomit and taking laxatives you don't need are also common and are symptoms of bulimia nervosa. Such illness costs lives if not successfully treated. Now in its second edition, Peter Cooper's sympatheti...
- GenresPsychologyNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 12, 2015
Informative, but patronising. Probably more help for supporters than suffers as much of the time is condescending
January 1, 2021
“It is difficult, against the tide of propaganda, for anyone to sustain the argument that body shape and weight are not really important. In this sense, our culture serves to encourage preoccupations with shape and weight in women, and it rewards successful dieting.”
★★★.5
Content warning: eating disorders, bulimia and anorexia nervosa, binge eating, relapse, mental illness such as depression and anxiety
Upon my relapse in 2020, I decided that it was finally time to start getting help for my eating disorder and body dysmorphia. This obviously starts with reaching out to a therapist (which I have done through my university) but also comes down to knowing more about my eating and psychological patterns. Knowing that there is a reason for certain dysmorphic thoughts and behaviours calmed me a little, which will perhaps make recovery easier. The fact that there are tons of non-fiction books written about eating disorders blew my mind, which it shouldn’t have because there are books written about everything. But when I found a whole list of them on Amazon, I couldn’t help picking up a couple and eagerly awaiting to read them. I’ve struggled with my body image for a very long time, and deciding to finally seek help for my low self-esteem and mental illness surrounding my appearance was difficult. Reading this book (or rather the first part, as the second part does contain useful information – it is recommended to be read alongside a therapist, GP or dietician, and I am still waiting to hear back from the service I reached out to through my university to continue) made me feel like I wasn’t alone in my struggles. It provided me with information I didn’t already know, and called out some of my own behaviours that I knew were wrong but did anyway – this just reaffirmed that I need help and that’s okay.
Although this book did help me in many ways, I couldn’t help but notice a few flaws within it. I feel as though the pronouns used throughout were outdated, and the author refused to use “they/them” as a single pronoun. In fact, it is stated and excused that Peter Cooper uses “she/her” pronouns throughout the book and that bulimia does indeed effect men too. Cooper decided to stick to she/her pronouns because eating disorders are more common in women – when he could have just used they/them to keep it neutral. There are also many mentions of there only being two genders. I just found this book heavily stereotypical when it came to discussions of gender and could do with the use of gender-neutral pronouns so anybody of any gender can get the help that they need and deserve. The language used was awfully binary and, to be frank, took me out of the experience. I also feel as though, for a book surrounding eating disorder recovery, a lot of the time the word “fat” was used negatively. One of the reasons I even developed an eating disorder was because of bullying from a young age – and in this bullying “fat” was used as a negative adjective to describe me. If this hadn’t happened, I may not have the eating problems in the first place. It felt wrong and contradictory for the book to use fat in a way that seemed negative. I know that in the second part of the book there is a section that may discuss the word “fat” in a positive way, but from the things I’ve already read it doesn’t look promising.
Aside from my critiques, I quite enjoyed reading more about bulimia and how it can be treated. I’m excited to go into my therapy sessions with more knowledge and an idea of the things we’ll be discussing during the sessions. I will probably re-read this in the future, to remind myself why I am in recovery and what matters more to me: being slightly above my expected weight and being genuinely content, or going to unhealthy extremes and causing my body permeant damage just to fit in with society’s unrealistic beauty standards. I know which it is right now, and I will re-visit this book to remind myself that throughout my recovery.
★★★.5
Content warning: eating disorders, bulimia and anorexia nervosa, binge eating, relapse, mental illness such as depression and anxiety
Upon my relapse in 2020, I decided that it was finally time to start getting help for my eating disorder and body dysmorphia. This obviously starts with reaching out to a therapist (which I have done through my university) but also comes down to knowing more about my eating and psychological patterns. Knowing that there is a reason for certain dysmorphic thoughts and behaviours calmed me a little, which will perhaps make recovery easier. The fact that there are tons of non-fiction books written about eating disorders blew my mind, which it shouldn’t have because there are books written about everything. But when I found a whole list of them on Amazon, I couldn’t help picking up a couple and eagerly awaiting to read them. I’ve struggled with my body image for a very long time, and deciding to finally seek help for my low self-esteem and mental illness surrounding my appearance was difficult. Reading this book (or rather the first part, as the second part does contain useful information – it is recommended to be read alongside a therapist, GP or dietician, and I am still waiting to hear back from the service I reached out to through my university to continue) made me feel like I wasn’t alone in my struggles. It provided me with information I didn’t already know, and called out some of my own behaviours that I knew were wrong but did anyway – this just reaffirmed that I need help and that’s okay.
Although this book did help me in many ways, I couldn’t help but notice a few flaws within it. I feel as though the pronouns used throughout were outdated, and the author refused to use “they/them” as a single pronoun. In fact, it is stated and excused that Peter Cooper uses “she/her” pronouns throughout the book and that bulimia does indeed effect men too. Cooper decided to stick to she/her pronouns because eating disorders are more common in women – when he could have just used they/them to keep it neutral. There are also many mentions of there only being two genders. I just found this book heavily stereotypical when it came to discussions of gender and could do with the use of gender-neutral pronouns so anybody of any gender can get the help that they need and deserve. The language used was awfully binary and, to be frank, took me out of the experience. I also feel as though, for a book surrounding eating disorder recovery, a lot of the time the word “fat” was used negatively. One of the reasons I even developed an eating disorder was because of bullying from a young age – and in this bullying “fat” was used as a negative adjective to describe me. If this hadn’t happened, I may not have the eating problems in the first place. It felt wrong and contradictory for the book to use fat in a way that seemed negative. I know that in the second part of the book there is a section that may discuss the word “fat” in a positive way, but from the things I’ve already read it doesn’t look promising.
Aside from my critiques, I quite enjoyed reading more about bulimia and how it can be treated. I’m excited to go into my therapy sessions with more knowledge and an idea of the things we’ll be discussing during the sessions. I will probably re-read this in the future, to remind myself why I am in recovery and what matters more to me: being slightly above my expected weight and being genuinely content, or going to unhealthy extremes and causing my body permeant damage just to fit in with society’s unrealistic beauty standards. I know which it is right now, and I will re-visit this book to remind myself that throughout my recovery.
May 14, 2023
I received this book through the post following my appointment with an NHS professional who told me ‘unfortunately you’re not quite sick enough for us to treat you, I suggest reading this book and travelling 1 hour a way to your nearest support group to chat about your feelings with a bunch of strangers’… I put this book off for years because I was insulted, dejected and confused…
The book itself assumes the reader (whoever they are) wants or needs help. This sets a tone of non-confrontational questions and suggestions throughout, which if you’ve never addressed them before could offer an interesting insight into eating disorders/disordered eating. However I did not enjoy how ‘easy’ it made everything to be, (I mean sure eating disorders/disorder eating are a very complex and layered issue so possibly too big to fit into 219 pages) it made me think of Finding Dory, ‘just keep swimming’, blindly, smiling, You’ve Got This! Personally, I just found it lacking.
Perhaps this book would be more beneficial to those helping or supporting someone with an eating disorder/disordered eating and wanting to understand what their role could be in recovery.
The book itself assumes the reader (whoever they are) wants or needs help. This sets a tone of non-confrontational questions and suggestions throughout, which if you’ve never addressed them before could offer an interesting insight into eating disorders/disordered eating. However I did not enjoy how ‘easy’ it made everything to be, (I mean sure eating disorders/disorder eating are a very complex and layered issue so possibly too big to fit into 219 pages) it made me think of Finding Dory, ‘just keep swimming’, blindly, smiling, You’ve Got This! Personally, I just found it lacking.
Perhaps this book would be more beneficial to those helping or supporting someone with an eating disorder/disordered eating and wanting to understand what their role could be in recovery.
May 3, 2022
great book
Very good quick simple helpful read
Would recommend
Easy
Useful
LoTs to learn
Value
Good reading
Read
Focus
Helping
Good
Very good quick simple helpful read
Would recommend
Easy
Useful
LoTs to learn
Value
Good reading
Read
Focus
Helping
Good
September 22, 2010
Apparently, the secret is to just... stop.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews