Books about eating disorders cover a wide range of perspectives, including personal memoirs, clinical guides, self-help resources, and academic texts.
Types of Eating Disorder Books
Some notable categories and examples within each:
Memoirs and Personal Stories
Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya Hornbacher: This raw and honest memoir provides an intimate look at Hornbacher’s struggle with eating disorders and the impact on her life.
Life Without Ed by Jenni Schaefer: Schaefer shares her journey to recovery from an eating disorder, presenting the disorder as an abusive relationship she had to end.
Clinical Guides and Academic Texts
Eating Disorders: A Comprehensive Guide to Medical Care and Complications by Philip S. Mehler and Arnold E. Andersen: This book provides an in-depth look at the medical complications associated with eating disorders and offers guidelines for treatment.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders: A Comprehensive Treatment Guide by Glenn Waller, Helen Cordery, Emma Corstorphine, Hendrik Hinrichsen, Rachel Lawson, Victoria Mountford, and Ulrike Schmidt: This guide focuses on evidence-based cognitive-behavioral approaches to treating eating disorders.
Self-Help and Recovery
The Eating Disorder Recovery Handbook by Nicola Davies and Emma Bacon: This book offers practical advice, exercises, and support for those recovering from eating disorders.
8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder by Carolyn Costin and Gwen Schubert Grabb: A step-by-step guide that provides tools for recovery, including personal stories, exercises, and strategies.
Books for Families and Friends
Help Your Teenager Beat an Eating Disorder by James Lock and Daniel Le Grange: This book offers advice for parents on how to support their teenager through recovery.
Skills-based Learning for Caring for a Loved One with an Eating Disorder: The New Maudsley Method by Janet Treasure, Gráinne Smith, and Anna Crane: This guide helps families develop the skills needed to support a loved one with an eating disorder.
Specialized Topics
Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders by Jennifer L. Gaudiani: Focuses on the medical aspects of eating disorders, helping readers understand the physical impacts and necessary medical care.
Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight by Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor: While not exclusively about eating disorders, this book challenges conventional views on weight and health, promoting a more inclusive approach to body image.
Search for a Book
Featured
Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works – 4th Edition
Elyse Resch, Evelyn Tribole
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Joanna Poppink
Resources
Hornbacher, Marya. Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia. Harper Perennial, 2014.
Schaefer, Jenni. Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too. McGraw-Hill Education, 2004.
Mehler, Philip S., and Arnold E. Andersen. Eating Disorders: A Comprehensive Guide to Medical Care and Complications. 2nd ed., Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.
Waller, Glenn, et al. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders: A Comprehensive Treatment Guide. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Davies, Nicola, and Emma Bacon. The Eating Disorder Recovery Handbook: A Practical Guide to Long-Term Recovery. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016.
Costin, Carolyn, and Gwen Schubert Grabb. 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder: Effective Strategies from Therapeutic Practice and Personal Experience. W. W. Norton & Company, 2011.
Lock, James, and Daniel Le Grange. Help Your Teenager Beat an Eating Disorder. 2nd ed., The Guilford Press, 2015.
Treasure, Janet, Gráinne Smith, and Anna Crane. Skills-based Learning for Caring for a Loved One with an Eating Disorder: The New Maudsley Method. Routledge, 2007.
Gaudiani, Jennifer L. Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders. Routledge, 2018.
Bacon, Linda, and Lucy Aphramor. Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight. BenBella Books, 2014.
