Eating Disorders

The Ultimate Teen Guide

By (author) Jessica R. Greene

Publication date:

14 August 2014

Length of book:

316 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780810887732

It has been estimated that as many as 15 million people suffer or will suffer from anorexia and bulimia at some point in their lives. Additional statistics suggest that 25 million more suffer from binge eating and other related behaviors. The overwhelming majority of individuals who suffer from eating disorders are girls and young women between the ages of 12 and 25, but young males are not immune to these addictions—and the statistics grow more alarming every year. Eating disorders affect not only those who suffer from them, but family members and friends who feel powerless to help.

In
Eating Disorders: The Ultimate Teen Guide, Jessica R. Greene offers hope for the young women and men who have engaged in these self-destructive urges. In this book, Greene examines the causes and varieties of teen eating disorders and offers advice on how to overcome them. The author looks at how eating disorders are defined, how common they are, and how they are tied into behavioral addictions. In addition to explaining how and why certain people suffer from these compulsions, this book looks at:

  • Social and Cultural Pressures
  • High Risk Groups
  • Myths and Stereotypes
  • Health Repercussions
  • Methods of Prevention
  • Intervention Strategies
  • Treatment Options
  • Recovery

Intended to serve as a comprehensive guide, this book also includes a list of resources for teens and their parents. Drawing on input from experts in the field, as well as real-life stories,
Eating Disorders: The Ultimate Teen Guide will help young adults who are struggling with this devastating affliction.
There are many texts that deal with eating disorders, but this is one of the more comprehensive ones. The author not only covers the basics (symptoms, consequences, treatment) of anorexia and bulimia; she also addresses lesser-known types of disordered eating, such as binge eating disorder and unclassified eating disorders. There are chapters that thoroughly discuss the possible causes of eating disorders and relate them to addiction. Most interesting are the sections that focus on the history of starving and on those who knowingly have starved themselves, be it for piety, politics, or entertainment, and the parts that highlight society’s ever-changing ideals of beauty, femininity, and thinness. The book notes some correlation between eating disorders and society’s near-impossible body image ideals. Each chapter begins with thought-provoking questions to be addressed in the text and ends with a copious section of multimedia resources that can be used for further exploration. Readers will appreciate the many personal accounts from those who have dealt with eating disorders, as well as opinions from experts in the field. Contact information for these individuals is included, too, such as Twitter handles, email addresses, and websites, further enhancing students’ ability to delve deeper in the subject. There are a few photos throughout, along with some satisfactory text boxes. The text can be somewhat dry at times and some of the statistics complicated, but overall this is a strong resource for teens doing research that goes beyond basic report writing.