On this page you'll find:

• An introduction to Eating Disorders for Dummies
• A free monthly excerpt straight from the pages of Eating Disorders for Dummies
• A table of contents so you can see at a glance all the great topics covered in Eating Disorders for Dummies
• Access to free printable worksheets to help you track your recovery progress

Introduction

Think you—or someone you love—has an eating disorder?

This practical, reassuring guide explains anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder in plain English. You'll also learn about related disorders such as "bigorexia" and compulsive exercise. Informative checklists help you determine your own eating disorder risk. Plus, you'll discover how to assemble a treatment team, find the right therapist, evaluate the latest treatments, and support your own or your loved one's recovery in day-to-day living.

Discover how to:

• Identify eating disorder warning signs
• Recognize companion disorders
• Handle emotional eating
• Survive setbacks
• Approach someone who needs treatment
• Treat disorders in men, children, performers, middle-aged and elderly people and other special populations.

Monthly Excerpt

5/11/2012

Giving up the longing for a quick fix

Living right alongside fears of giving up your eating disorder is a small volcano of urgency that says you must get over your symptoms now! You're especially likely to feel this way if bingeing is one of your symptoms. Even if you reduce your symptoms fairly quickly in treatment, that same volcano fires away for you to be over all your other discomforts yesterday. You don't want to feel frustrated about your future or friends. It's hard to experience loneliness, disappointment or anger. The urgency to get rid of uncomfortable feelings is part of what causes the development of an eating disorder in the first place. Tolerating discomfort is a recovery skill that takes time to develop.

Longing for a quick fix also reflects your feelings of hopelessness. You've been struggling for a long time, always ending up in the same demoralizing place. Some of the urgency you feel may be your desire for immediate reassurance that you actually can get better.

Your feelings completely make sense, given where you've been. Yet, if you're going to dig in for the long-haul work of recovery, someplace along the line you need to let go of the expectation that you'll get better fast. Holding on to your longing for a quick fix impacts your treatment negatively by leading you to conclusions like the following:

• You believe your treatment is failing because you think it's not working fast enough.
• You believe you are failing because you think you'd be getting better faster if you were doing everything right.
• You don't dig in for the work that takes longer because it doesn't match your idea that recovery is supposed to happen right away.
• You're highly vulnerable to relapse because you want to turn to something that makes you feel better now (such as food or dieting).

Just because everything isn't better now, that doesn't mean nothing is better. Some of the joys of recovery are the unexpected nuggets of progress that develop along the way: You find you're able to do something you never imagined doing before; you understand something in your situation with a new compassion you didn't believe possible; or you become aware of a positive trait or a resource in yourself that you didn't see before. These jewels often provide just the injections of hope and confidence you need to keep you going

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Contents

Part I: The Eating Disorders: An All-Consuming World of Their Own

Part I helps you really get what eating disorders are about.

• Chapter 1 gives you the big picture and previews the rest of the book.
• Chapters 2 to 4 introduce you to the three major eating disorders: anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. Each chapter comes with a questionnaire to help you judge whether you're at risk for the disorder described.
• Chapter 5 reviews the risk factors that make you vulnerable to developing an eating disorder in the first place.
• In Chapter 6 you can find out about the physical toll eating disordered behavior takes on your body.
• Chapter 7 describes other psychological disorders that typically accompany an eating disorder, such as anxiety, depression, addiction, and compulsive exercise.

Part II: Getting Well: Exploring Recovery and Treatment Options

Part II is your treatment handbook.

• Chapter 8 provides a map of recovery goals. You'll know what you're aiming at.
• Chapter 9 goes over all your treatment options. Includes treatment experts and facilities and a discussion of why you might choose each.
• Chapter 10 helps you pick the approach to individual therapy that's right for you. It takes you right inside an imaginary session for each approach.
• Chapters 11 and 12 explore additional options: family, couple, and group therapies; support groups; medication; and online treatments.
• In Chapter 13 I help you think about your own role in using treatment and getting better.
• Chapter 14 focuses on managing early stage recovery, including dealing with relapse.

Part III: Eating Disorders in Special Populations

This part focuses on special groups in the population who are at high risk for eating disorders or whose eating disorder risk has been under-recognized. I highlight special treatment considerations for each group. These groups include:

• Men
• Athletes
• Dancers, models, and actors
• Children
• Middle-aged and elderly people
• People who are obese

Part IV: Advice and Help for Families and Others Who Care

Part IV provides help for families and other people who care about someone with an eating disorder.
This how-to part includes:

• Getting informed
• Approaching someone for the first time about their eating disorder
• Managing day-to-day life in recovery
• Checking in with your own well-being and finding the services you may need to support it

Part V: The Part of Tens

This For Dummies tradition is your at-a-glance part for quick ideas to inspire you or keep you on track in recovery.

• Ten Don'ts remind you of recovery-interfering thoughts and behaviors.
• Ten Do's give you the other side of the coin: ten thoughts and practices to keep your recovery cooking

Resource Guide

• Web Sites for Eating Disorder Information
• Web Sites for Finding Treatment
• Web Sites for Finding Local Support Groups
• Finding Online Treatment and Support
• Web Sites for Size-Acceptance and Self-Esteem
• Self-Help Books