Sensing the self : women's recovery from bulimia

Hearing about the destructive compulsion of bulimia nervosa, outsiders may wonder, How could you ever start? Those suffering from the eating disorder ask themselves in despair, How can I ever stop? How do you break the cycle of bingeing, vomiting, laxative abuse, and shame? While many books describe the descent into eating disorders and the resulting emotional and physical damage, this book describes recovery.

Critiques (5)

Critique du Publishers Weekly

"The essence of recovering is the development of a sense of self, and here the word sense is as important as the word self.... How do we sense self?" writes Sheila M. Reindl in Sensing the Self: Women's Recovery from Bulimia, aimed at people with the disease as well as at professionals who treat it. Reindl, a psychologist at Harvard's Bureau of Study Counsel, emphasizes the necessity of getting help from other women for patients who are themselves "ambivalent about getting help and getting well." Developing a sense of separateness from parents, from partners is crucial. Dozens of examples and testimonies of women in varying ages and stages of recovery support Reindl's assertions and will reassure and help women with bulimia. ( May 21) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Critique de Kirkus

Shame is the villain and persistence the heroine in this analysis of 13 women who recovered from bulimia nervosa. Reindl (Psychology/Harvard Univ.), however, would probably prefer to speak of women who are recovering from bulimia, since, as with many addictions, a return to the eating disorder is always but a binge and a purge away. The author selected women who had been free from bulimic symptoms for at least a year and asked: What motivated them to begin changing their behavior? What helped? What set them back? Why did they develop the eating disorder? Bolstering the stories of her subjects with other research and writings as well as her own clinical experience, the author detects a pattern that resembles, but does not mimic, the patterns of other addictions. What she found was a sense of shame, of being inadequate and bad. In most cases the feelings of worthlessness arose not from childhood physical or sexual abuse, but from emotional deprivation. The decision to stop and seek help comes about because the person is fed up with her behavior, but it can take many false starts before symptoms are under control. Such therapeutic interventions (whether via a psychologist, a nutritionist, or Overeaters Anonymous) kick in to help bulimia sufferers rebuild a positive sense of self. Reindl cites the tale of Beauty and the Beast as an apt and rich metaphor for the struggle to also accept the ugly side of the self. There is also a section directed to therapists who treat those with eating disorders and specifics on what the recovering women found most useful in their therapeutic encounters. She lauds the importance of good nutrition and exercise as recovery proceeds, noting the terrible damage that years of an eating disorder can do to even a young body. Though not a definitive study of bulimia, it is sensitive, informative, and likely to be helpful to both client and therapist.

Critique de Booklist

Bingeing, self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse, and shame--the behaviors of bulimia nervosa constitute one of the hardest eating disorders to break. Yet break it some do. Psychologist Reindl listened to such recovered bulimics, women who had been, on average, 17 years old when they first developed the disorder and had spent an average of five years suffering from it. Repeatedly, Reindl found that recovery entailed regaining a sense of self and feeling one's experience. In the convalescent stage, these women had had deep shame and such difficulty in tolerating painful emotions that they avoided introspection. As they "came to their senses" and learned to trust their experience, they learned to recalibrate their sense of "enoughness." That is, they learned that they were good enough, would get enough, could tell when enough was enough, and were in themselves enough. Completed by an appendix on research on recovery and a thorough list of references, Reindl's book will sit well in collections strong on women's issues as well as eating disorders per se. --Whitney Scott

Critique de Choice

In a field that is overflowing with theories and therapies, this book offers a useful set of tools and insights about bulimia. Reindl (Harvard) interviewed and studied 13 women who met the clinical criteria for bulimia nervosa. She found that these women had difficulty sensing self-experience. In order to improve and recover from their debilitating and destructive behaviors, they needed to engage in a process of self-discovery that involves nine key components. In addition to certain standard approaches, such as learning to listen to one's body, the author includes factors unique to working with this population. For example, the ability to tolerate pain and distress is an important factor in dealing with this disorder, since those who recovered had to learn that pain is an inevitable part of life and not a confirmation or reflection of their inherent weakness or lack of self-worth. Although it does not include a representative sample of those experiencing this particular eating disorder, the book provides a very good examination of the complex components and issues involved in this life-threatening illness. Recommended for upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professionals. R. Kabatznick CUNY Queens College

Critique du Library Journal

How can those suffering from bulimia end the self-destructive and often fatal cycle of compulsive eating and purging? What conditions contribute toward recovery and wellness? Seeking answers to these questions, psychotherapist Reindl (Bureau of Study Counsel, Harvard) interviewed 13 recovering bulimics, listening for common themes in their stories. Her informants (middle-class working women and postgraduate students mostly in their mid-twenties) described the process of recovery as a process of turning inward, of learning to listen, identify, and accept one's own physical, psychic, and social self-experience. Finding parallels in their accounts to themes from Beauty and the Beast, Reindl demonstrates that these women had to acknowledge, appreciate, and embrace the aggressive, needy, and unpleasant aspects of themselves they had denied in order to become well and whole. Reindl's informants used a variety of therapeutic methods to foster this process of recovery. Implications for treatment and further research are discussed. Not a traditional self-help book, this work is recommended for therapists, counselors, and others seeking to understand and help people with eating disorders. For collections in academic and larger public libraries. Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA Semans, Anne & Cathy Winks. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Table des matières

Introduction

1 Coming to Their Senses

2 Sensing When Enough Is Enough

3 Physical, Psychic, and Social Self-Experience

4 Beauty and the Beast

5 Learning to Sense Self-Experience

6 Sensing Self through Relationship

7 Sustaining Recovery

8 Implications

Appendix: Research on Recovery

References

Acknowledgments

Index

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