Eating disorders for dummies

Introduction -- About this book -- Conventions used in this book -- What you're not to read -- Foolish assumptions -- How this book is organized -- Part 1: Eating disorders: an all consuming world of their own -- Part 2: Getting well: exploring recovery and treatment options -- Part 3: Eating disorders in special populations -- Part 4: Advice and help for families and others who care -- Part 5: Part of tens -- Icons used in this book -- Where to go from here -- Part 1: Eating Disorders: An All-Consuming World Of Their Own -- 1: Understanding eating disorders -- Getting a sense of the problem -- Psyching yourself sick -- Becoming more compulsive -- Eating disorders versus disordered eating -- Being at risk for an eating disorder -- Classifying the eating disorders -- Anorexia nervosa -- Bulimia nervosa -- Binge eating disorder (BED) -- Seeing what's behind the symptoms -- Food and weight as the visible focus -- Eating disorders as "solutions" -- Seeing the damage eating disorders do -- Damage to the eating disorder sufferer -- Damage to those around the sufferer -- Scoping the rise in eating disorders -- How cultural forces have taken a toll -- What makes eating disorders more likely -- How perceptions are beginning to shift -- Getting better is an option -- Getting help -- Emerging developments in treatment -- 2: Getting insight into anorexia nervosa -- Putting anorexia nervosa into words -- Anorexia defined by sufferers -- Anorexia defined by professionals -- Looking at anorexia's behavioral traits -- Restricting food intake-severely -- Becoming ritualistic -- Exercising compulsively -- Feeling hyperactive -- Bingeing-the big blowout -- Using laxatives or enemas to atone -- Seeing anorexia's psychological traits -- Body image disturbance -- Fat phobia -- Self-image based on weight -- Denial of the existence of a problem -- Preoccupation with personal control -- Perfectionism -- Black-and-white thinking -- Need for external approval -- Determining whether you have anorexia -- 3: Seeing inside bulimia nervosa -- Identifying the many faces of bulimia -- Bulimia expressed by sufferers -- Bulimia expressed by professionals -- Recognizing bulimia's behavioral traits -- Bingeing-not your ordinary overeating -- Purging to compensate -- Keeping your bulimia a secret -- Avoiding situations that involve food -- Seeing bulimia's psychological traits -- Feeling disgust and self-hatred -- Equating weight with self-worth -- Seeking elusive perfection -- Limiting your thinking to black and white -- Needing others' approval -- Feeling overwhelmed by the disorder -- Determining whether you have bulimia -- 4: Understanding binge eating disorder -- Defining binge eating disorder -- Binge eating disorder defined by sufferers -- Binge eating disorder defined by professionals -- Understanding the behavioral features of binge eating -- Binge eating across the weight spectrum -- Binge/diet cycle -- Secrecy -- Social withdrawal because of "feeling fat" -- Seeing BED's psychological traits -- Disgust about the bingeing relieved by dieting -- Despair about overcoming the disorder -- Self-worth depends on weight -- Perfectionism -- Black-and-white thinking -- Need for external approval -- Determining whether you have BED -- 5: Eating disorder risk factors -- Looking at family traits that may influence eating disorders -- Finding out what runs in families -- Seeing family patterns that may feed eating disorders -- Looking at your individual vulnerability -- Managing emotions poorly -- Having a history of trauma -- Experiencing shame -- Seeking perfection -- Thinking in black-and-white -- Needing external approval -- Avoiding growing up -- Zapping the brain with hormones -- Tinkering with your mood and appetite: serotonin -- Making it feel so rewarding: dopamine -- Culture that breeds eating disorders -- Succumbing to the media -- Getting slim at any price -- Fearing cultural disapproval -- Dieting as the gateway to eating disorders -- Dieting feels like control -- Dieting increases the risk of eating disorders -- 6: Deconstructing your body with an eating disorder -- Disordering your body from the inside out with starvation -- Dehydration: risking heart failure and more -- Malnutrition: undermining your body's essential systems -- Wearing your body down with purging -- Robbing your body of fluids -- Putting wear and tear on your body -- Reversing the effects with recovery -- 7: Sidekicks that often accompany eating disorders -- Altering thoughts and perceptions -- With anorexia, you can't think straight! -- Your world centers on food and weight -- Recognizing other disorders that require treatment -- Considering suicide -- Overdoing it: OCD -- Worrying too much: anxiety disorders -- Dealing with depression: both cause and consequence -- Bouncing up and down: bipolar disorder -- Adding addictions to your eating disorder -- Abusing drugs and alcohol -- Exercising excessively -- Part 2: Getting Well: Exploring Recovery And Treatment Options -- 8: Seeing what recovery looks like -- Finding balance in recovery -- Maintaining a healthy weight -- Finding your healthy weight -- Skirting the pitfalls of keeping track -- Menstruating normally -- Getting to normal periods -- Losing your periods -- Seeing bingeing or purging symptoms subside -- Recovery isn't all or nothing -- Slip isn't a failure -- Getting thinking processes normal -- De-stinking your thinking -- Enjoying better thinking -- Eating well with no forbidden foods -- Understanding healthy eating -- Including forbidden foods -- Exercising in a health way -- Determining what healthy exercise is -- Exploring physical activity for pleasure -- Creating healthy relationships -- Setting appropriate boundaries -- Allowing appropriate intimacy -- Tolerating your emotions -- Allowing and assessing feelings -- Making better choices through awareness -- Maintaining a healthy self-image -- Seeing your worth beyond your weight -- Deflating weight obsession -- 9: Deciding the who, what, and where for treatment -- Finding the right therapist -- Finding an eating disorder therapist -- Checking credentials -- Knowing what you can expect -- Determining goodness-of-fit -- Assembling your team -- Addressing psychological and emotional health -- Addressing physical health -- Designating a team leader -- Determining the intervention you need -- Do you need urgent hospitalization? -- Is non-urgent intensive treatment a good option? -- Getting a good medical work-up -- How do I find a good doctor? -- Who needs a medical work-up? -- What happens during a medical work-up? -- What gets decided? -- Making a plan for your treatment -- First things first-but what comes first? -- Your therapist can recommend a plan -- Choosing where to get treatment -- Inpatient hospital care -- Residential treatment -- Halfway houses -- Day hospital (partial hospital) -- Intensive outpatient program (IOP) -- Outpatient therapy -- Exploring experiential and alternative therapies -- Experiential therapies -- 10: Finding the treatment approach that's right for you -- Choosing your eating disorder treatment -- Choosing the best approach -- Choosing an approach that fits who you are -- Concentrating on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) -- What do you do in CBT -- Julie concentrates on CBT -- How CBT helps -- Delving into dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) -- What do you do in DBT -- Julie joins a DBT group -- How DBT helps -- Setting your sights on psychodynamic therapy -- What do you do in psychodynamic therapy -- Julie sets her sights on psychodynamic psychotherapy -- How psychodynamic psychotherapy helps -- Focusing on feminist therapy -- What do you do in feminist therapy -- Julie focuses on feminist therapy -- How feminist therapy helps -- Investigating interpersonal therapy (IPT) -- What do you do in IPT -- Julie investigates IPT -- How IPT helps -- Getting to the bottom of "bottom-up" therapies -- How a bottom-up therapy helps -- Body-based therapies -- EMDR therapy -- Energy therapies -- Taking to the trenches with trauma treatment -- What is trauma treatment? -- How do trauma treatments help? -- 11: Including other people in your treatment -- Family therapy: everybody gets into the act -- When to choose family therapy -- What you do in family therapy -- How family therapy helps recovery -- Couples therapy: just the two of us -- When to consider couples therapy -- What you do in couples therapy -- How couples therapy helps recovery -- Group therapy: safety in numbers -- Why you may consider group therapy -- What happens in group therapy -- How group therapy helps recovery -- Self-help groups: grass roots support -- Overeaters anonymous -- 12: Exploring medication and other approaches -- Getting your biology on board with medication -- Seeking the cure for your eating disorder in medication -- Rebalancing the brain chemistry behind your eating disorder -- Treating companion disorders -- Exploring new frontiers in eating disorder treatment -- Putting parents in charge with the Maudsley model -- Looking to the Internet for therapy -- 13: Making good use of the approach you choose -- Letting go of magic for reality -- Giving up the longing for a quick fix -- Losing the longing for an outside fix -- Substituting recovery goals for eating disorder goals -- Surrendering "thin" as your measure of success -- Knowing you need to do more than stop bingeing -- Looking beyond your focus on food and weight -- Recognizing signs of recovery unrelated to weight -- Partnering with your therapist in a treatment-boosting way -- Working collaboratively -- Showing up -- Following through -- Taking risks -- Being truthful -- Speaking up -- Participating in repair -- Making the most of groups -- Group therapy -- Support groups -- 14: Managing early stage recovery and the reality of relapse -- Stepping into the unknown: a recovery overview -- Determining how long recovery will take -- Making a commitment to recovery -- Reducing your symptoms -- Discovering the real person within -- Building recovery habits and skills -- Consolidating healthy eating habits -- Adding physical activity safely -- Staying tuned in to your feelings -- Staying tuned in to your needs -- Expressing yourself! -- Dealing with fear and resistance -- Accepting fear as part of recovery -- Making constructive use of resistance -- Rebounding from relapse -- Distinguishing big ones from little ones -- Seeing relapse as part of getting better -- Getting your head straight -- Using relapse to gain new insights -- Knowing steps to take when relapse occurs -- Practicing imperfection -- Part 3: Eating Disorders In Special Populations -- 15: Eating disorders in males -- Recognizing that guys suffer from eating disorders, too! -- Eating disorders in men are on the upswing -- Seeing how men and women differ in terms of eating disorders -- Uncovering risk factors for eating disorders in males -- Psychological factors -- Biographical factors -- Body dissatisfaction -- Dieting habits -- Thinning down for sports -- Being gay -- Gaining awareness of special issues for treatment -- Escaping diagnosis -- Being male in a treatment world set up for women -- 16: Athletes and eating disorders -- Running a greater risk for eating disorders -- Magnifying cultural pressures for thinness -- Tipping positive traits into bad results -- Identifying higher-risk sports -- Focusing on female athletes -- Falling victim to the female athlete triad -- Recognizing the results of the triad -- Measuring risk for male athletes -- Recognizing an eating disorder in a child athlete -- Scoring with the right coach -- Tackling special issues for treatment -- 17: Eating disorders on the stage, screen, and runway -- Discovering the risks behind the scenes -- Facing daily pressures to be thin -- Seeing more and more artists impacted -- Considering eating disorders as part of the job -- Focusing too much on the body -- Being surrounded by thin role models -- Equating eating disorder qualities with success -- Getting direct pressure to be thin -- Making thinness a requirement to get jobs -- Spotlighting special issues for treating performers -- Improving the work environment -- Helping child performers -- 18: Eating disorders in children -- Becoming informed about childhood onset eating disorders -- Food avoidance emotional disorder (FAED): when food is scary -- Selective eating disorder (SED): when food has to be just right -- Less common childhood food disorders -- Recognizing the "grown up" disorder of anorexia in kids -- Physical impacts in children -- Psychological overview -- Reviewing the risk factors -- Knowing what signs and symptoms to look for -- Getting treatment for kids -- 19: Eating disorders later in life -- Getting older and trying to be thinner -- Seeking treatment later in life -- Dying a little later, but still too soon -- Fighting the loss of youth and more -- Experiencing midlife crisis is no joke -- (Re)discovering the control cure -- Eating disordered over 65 -- Triggering anorexia in seniors -- Seeing other reasons for diet problems -- Treating eating disorders in the 30+ set -- Treatment issues at midlife -- Treatment issues for seniors -- 20: Eating disorders and people who are obese -- Being obese and eating disordered -- Defining obesity -- Seeing how BED differs in people who are obese -- Being a person who's obese with BED -- Highlighting special issues for treatment -- Treating the effects of social stigma first -- Treating obesity versus treating BED -- Treating the whole person -- Part 4: Advice And Help For Families And Others Who Care -- 21: Forming a plan to help the person with an eating disorder -- Becoming informed about eating disorders -- Recognizing visible signs of an eating disorder -- Understanding what an eating disorder means to the person who has it -- Getting the basics of eating disorder treatment and recovery -- Being ready with resources -- What's the hurry? -- Is preparation the same for everyone? -- Where do I start looking? -- Gathering support -- Making a plan with other family members -- Finding support for yourself -- Seeking support in nonfamily situations -- 22: Implementing your plan to help -- Knowing what you're out to accomplish -- Getting the problem out in the open -- Starting the process of talking -- Making your concern clear -- Suggesting treatment -- Laying the groundwork for future conversations -- Knowing some important do's -- Do be calm and centered -- Do say clearly what you mean -- Do report your own reactions and concerns -- Do be prepared to listen -- Do be supportive -- Do encourage your child to take responsibility for her eating disorder -- Avoiding some important don'ts -- Don't choose a time when one of you is already upset -- Don't accuse or blame -- Don't plead -- Don't threaten -- Don't ask whether it's your fault -- Dealing with anger and denial -- People don't easily give up their survival strategies -- She hears you, no matter how she responds -- Arguing puts the focus back on you -- Deciding when you need to take action -- 23: Making life livable while supporting another's recovery -- Letting go and ending the food wars -- Understanding why letting go is so hard -- Disengaging from your child's disorder -- Coming to terms with letting go -- Taking "fat talk" off the table -- Refusing to acknowledge "fat talk" -- Cheering nonfat positives -- Insisting on accountability -- Paying for wrong behavior -- Making rules with roommates or spouses -- Focusing outside the eating disorder -- Seeing beyond the eating disorder -- Bringing "normal" back to family life -- Breaking through recovery traps -- 24: Finding support for yourself while supporting another's recovery -- Knowing when to seek treatment for yourself -- Contributing to family recovery traps -- Having difficulty managing your emotions -- Feeling despair and hopelessness -- Putting your problems on hold -- Turning your attention to your needs -- Seeing a therapist even if your child won't -- Setting an example with your treatment -- Sending a positive message -- Finding the help that's right for you -- Knowing what choices are available -- Finding what you need -- Part 5: Part Of Tens -- 25: Ten don'ts: behaviors and thoughts to avoid -- Don't diet -- Don't try to fix your eating disorder by yourself -- Don't look for a quick fix -- Don't do anything that feels extreme -- Don't believe your weight determines your worth -- Don't avoid your negative feelings -- Don't ignore signs of relapse -- Don't nurture your fascination with "thin" -- Don't put things off until you're "thin enough" -- Don't stop treatment to soon -- 26: Ten do's: ways to enhance your recovery -- Do practice being imperfect -- Do nurture your social network as part of your healing -- Do speak up! -- Do be truthful with your treatment team -- Do experiment with ways to enjoy being in your body -- Do use "feeling fat" as a call to awareness -- Do appreciate that improvement often proceeds in baby steps -- Do keep track of your accomplishments -- Do talk with other women about social pressures to be thin -- Do remember that people can and do recover from their eating disorders -- Resource guide -- Web sites for eating disorder information -- Web sites for finding treatment -- Individual, family, couples, and group therapists specializing in eating disorders -- Finding specialized forms of treatment -- Finding other experts who specialize in eating disorders -- Web sites for finding local support groups -- For people with eating disorders -- For family and others -- Web sites for size acceptance and self-esteem -- Self-help books -- Index.