Six Great Self-Help Books for Recovery from Anorexia

Anorexia is a life-threatening eating disorder that affects approximately 0.5% of the American female population and approximately 0.05% of the male population, according to the American Psychiatric Association. Anorexia nervosa is constituted by a refusal to maintain a minimal weight for one's height, preoccupation with one's weight and food, the loss of the menstrual cycle (in females), distorted body image, and basing one's self-worth off of one's weight, body size, or body shape. If you are an individual suffering with anorexia, I encourage you to utilize these self-help books in conjunction with treatment from mental health professionals in your recovery.

The Anorexia Workbook: How to Accept Yourself, Heal Your Suffering, and Reclaim Your Life: The Anorexia Workbook is one of the best self-help books you can utilize in your recovery from this eating disorder. The authors of this book are both specialists who treat individuals suffering with anorexia. The book is based off of the principles of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). The Anorexia Workbook covers what anorexia is, the basics of ACT, how to identify your values, how to live your life according to those values, how to cope with difficult situations, control, what professional treatments are available for this eating disorder, and how to find a therapist. You will also learn mindfulness techniques, how to listen to your feelings and thoughts without necessarily acting upon them, identify obstacles to the kind of life you desire to live, and identify which treatment option is right for you. In addition, the book contains self-assessments, worksheets, and exercises to help you along the way. Each chapter contains a list of bullet points, which will be discussed in that particular chapter as well.

You may purchase The Anorexia Workbook: How to Accept Yourself, Heal Your Suffering, and Reclaim your Life at your local bookstore, such as Barnes & Noble or Borders. This book may also be purchased on Amazon for approximately $15.

Making Peace with Food: Freeing Yourself from the Diet/Weight Obsession: Making Peace with Food is another great book for individuals with anorexia to use in their recoveries. This book discusses set point theory with regards to weight, teaches you how to love yourself and your body, discusses how to live a healthy lifestyle, and helps you discover your values. The book contains a lot of self-assessments and exercises to help you learn to love yourself and to help you make peace with food. Finally, the book contains a section discussing how loved ones can support an individual struggling with food or dieting obsessions.

You may purchase this book on Amazon for approximately $11. You can also have your local bookstore, such as Walden Books, Barnes & Noble, or Borders order this book for you if they do not carry it on a regular basis.

Dying to Be Thin: Understanding and Defeating Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia - A Practical Lifesaving Guide: Dying to Be Thin by Dr. Sacker and Dr. Zimmer is another great self-help book for those suffering from anorexia and their loved ones. The book discusses what anorexia and bulimia are, why each condition is very dangerous, and treatment options for eating disorders. This book is unique in that it dedicates a significant portion to loved ones. More specifically, it examines how parents, teachers, and friends can help loved ones with this eating disorder. Finally, this book provides personal stories from individuals who have suffered from eating disorders as well as resources where individuals may find help.

You may purchase this book for approximately $15 from the Borders website. This book may also be available in your local bookstores.

Next to Nothing: A Firsthand Account of One Teenager's Experience With an Eating Disorder: Next to Nothing: A Firsthand Account of One Teenager's Experience With an Eating Disorder may not look like a recovery book upon first glance, but it is actually a great self-help book for individuals suffering from anorexia entering recovery. The author, Carrie Arnold, uses her experiences with anorexia to help readers as they journey through recovery. This book, like other books on eating disorders, discusses what eating disorders are, what causes anorexia and bulimia, where you can find treatment, and the medical dangers of eating disorders. However, Next to Nothing also discusses how an eating disorder progresses, what each individual in a treatment team does, and conditions that often co-occur with anorexia. Unlike many other books out there, this book contains information on the recovery process and how to navigate it as well. For instance, the book provides strategies for maintaining recovery, how to handle the time you do not spend in therapy, how to get the support you need from family and friends, how to respond to comments other people may make to you, how to handle relapse, and discusses medical issues that may occur while you are in recovery or after the recovery process.

This book may be purchased from the Borders bookstore website for approximately $10. You may also check your local bookstores for the availability of this self-help book.

Hope, Help, and Healing for Eating Disorders: A New Approach to Treating Anorexia, Bulimia, and Overeating: Hope, Help and Healing for Eating Disorders by Dr. Gregory L. Jantz is a great self-help recovery book for individuals suffering from anorexia who are also Christians. This book covers what eating disorders are, the progression of eating disorders, family dynamics with regards to these conditions, abuse and how it often contributes to the pain of anorexia, the lure of addiction, co-occurring disorders, medical consequences of eating disorders, nutritional tips and suggestions on how to regain your health, learning to love your body from the inside out, and roadblocks to recovery. Unique to this self-help book is that Dr. Jantz focuses not only on the emotional aspect of recovering from an eating disorder, but also on the physical and spiritual components of eating disorder recovery as well. Finally, at the end of each chapter in Hope, Help and Healing for Eating Disorders, there is a, "Food for Thought," section, which provides you with thought-provoking questions to help you examine your past and present.

Hope, Help, and Healing for Eating Disorders may be found and purchased on Amazon for approximately $11. You may also find this self-help book for anorexia in your local mainstream or Christian bookstore. If your local Christian or mainstream bookstore does not have this book, you can always ask them to order it for you as well.

Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too: This self-help book for anorexia is co-authored by a psychologist (Thom Rutledge) and one of his former patients, a woman who suffered from both anorexia and bulimia (Jenni Schaefer). The book encourages individuals to think of their eating disorder as a separate entity with its own personality and as a relationship, rather than as a disease or condition. The book also helps you learn to defeat the negative beliefs eating disorders instill in you.

Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too may be purchased at your local bookstore, such as Borders or Barnes & Noble. Alternatively, you may purchase this self-help book for anorexia online on Amazon for approximately $11.50.

Anorexia is a very dangerous, complex eating disorder affecting many Americans today. If you have anorexia, you may find the books discussed in this article helpful in recovery in conjunction with treatment with mental health professionals. Family and friends may also find these books useful in understanding and learning how to support a loved one with an eating disorder.

Sources:

Amazon: The Anorexia Workbook: How to Accept Yourself, Heal Your Suffering, and Reclaim Your Life:
http://www.amazon.com/Anorexia-Workbook-Suffering-Harbinger-Self-Help/dp/1572243627/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280484269&sr=1-1

Amazon: Making Peace with Food: Freeing Yourself from the Diet/Weight Obsession:
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Peace-Food-Yourself-Obsession/dp/006096328X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280482085&sr=8-1

Borders: Dying to Be Thin: Understanding and Defeating Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia - A Practical Lifesaving Guide:
http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0446384178#complete_contributors

Borders: Next to Nothing: A Firsthand Account of One Teenager's Experience With an Eating Disorder:
http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0195309669

Amazon: Hope, Help, and Healing for Eating Disorders: A New Approach to Treating Anorexia, Bulimia, and Overeating:
http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Help-Healing-Eating-Disorders/dp/0877880646/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280535964&sr=1-1

Amazon: Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too:
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Without-Ed-Declared-Independence/dp/0071422986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280538574&sr=1-1