Aimee Liu - Restoring Our Bodies, Reclaiming Our Lives: Guidance and Reflections on Recovery from Eating Disorders

Liu puts each of these intimate letters into helpful contexts, so that current sufferers may learn from their peers. With clinical notes and information on new and unique approaches, Lius effort offers something for everyone affected by this issue, whether personally, peripherally, or professionally. It clearly shows that relief from suffering can be found in the stories of other sufferers.

PublishersWeekly.com

A terrific book with a compelling interplay between the perspectives of professionals and the stories of people who have successfully recovered from eating disorders. Highly informative and a great read.

B. Timothy Walsh, MD, Columbia University Medical Center

This book establishes new ground by walking the reader through the entire recovery process, from the initial turning points at the start of the odyssey to reclaiming ones life after an eating disorder.

Judith D. Banker, former president, Academy for Eating Disorders

Ive read countless books about eating disorders, but Ive never seen one like this. Combining the professional wisdom of leading experts with personal experiences from women and men all over the globe, this book fills a gap on the recovery bookshelf. Anyone who has been touched by an eating disorder needs to read this.

Jenni Schaefer, author of Life without Ed

An honest and often painful account of how ED can rob you of yourself, with a central focus on the realistic and complex process of recovery. The reader is able to intimately delve into the mind of a person with an eating disorder and examine his/her feelings at each point of the recovery process. Liu gives the gift of feeling the feelings, sharing the thoughts, and being aware that recovery looks different for every single person. As a parent, this is invaluable. The book gives me cautious, realistic hope for my daughter.

Lauren Calig, mother of a child with an eating disorder, writing for the National Eating Disorders Associations newsletter

ABOUT THE BOOK

Full recovery from an eating disorder is possible. Despite what you may have been led to believe, most people with anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder are able to completely restore their health and well-being. But how does this happen?

Author Aimee Liu has woven together dozens of first-person accounts of recovery to create a break-through roadmap for healing from an eating disorder. Restoring Our Bodies, Reclaiming Our Lives answers key questions including: How does healing begin? What does it feel like? What supports and accelerates it? Will I ever be free of worry about a relapse?

Throughout the book are informative sidebars written by leading professionals in the field, addressing essential topics such as finding the right therapist, the use of medications, exploring complementary treatments, and how family members can help.

Learn more at the authors website: www.aimeeliu.net.

AIMEE LIU is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, including Cloud Mountain. She is also the author of a memoir about her own recovery from an eating disorder titled Gaining: The Truth about Life after Eating Disorders.

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Restoring Our Bodies,

Reclaiming Our Lives

Guidance and Reflections on Recovery

from Eating Disorders

EDITED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

AIMEE LIU

Foreword by Judith D. Banker,

Past President, Academy for Eating Disorders

Trumpeter

Boston & London

2011

TRUMPETER BOOKS

An imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

trumpeterbooks.com

2011 by Aimee Liu

Cover Design By Kathleen Lynch/Black Kat Design

Cover Photograph Mark Owen/Arcangel Images

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Restoring our bodies, reclaiming our lives: guidance and reflections on recovery from eating disorders / edited and with an introduction by Aimee Liu; foreword by Judith D. Banker.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2741-7

ISBN 978-1-59030-877-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Eating disordersPsychological aspects. 2. Eating disordersPatientsBiography. I. Liu, Aimee.

RC552.E18R523 2011

616.8526dc22

2010038488

Contents

NOT ONE PATIENT IVE EVER TREATED for an eating disorder believed at the outset of treatment that she or he was capable of recovering. Not a single one could imagine being free of the relentless obsessing, the perpetual weight-loss algorithms, the self-loathing, shame, or despair that accompany these excruciatingly complex and devastating illnesses. Yet, despite their doubts, the majority of people with eating disorders do recover. How does that happen? What makes it possible to recover from an eating disorder? What takes place during the recovery process, and what does it feel like to be recovered? Are there ways to help the process along?

Eating-disorder researchers and practitioners are studying these and other questions in order to identify the best treatments and opportunities for recovery. We have learned that access to appropriate levels of specialized care, a strong alliance with treatment providers, and supportive relationships with family and friends can have a positive impact on recovery. In addition, research trials have shown certain therapies to be especially useful with younger patients and with particular types of eating disorders. This is a start. But its a far cry from the range of definitive answers we need in order to ensure recovery for every person who seeks help for an eating disorder. While the majority of people do recover, there are still many who remain disabled by eating disorders. Far too many lose their lives to these illnesses. And too many families are severely challenged by the financial and emotional demands of finding effective care for their loved ones. We need to learn more about who recovers and why, and about what challenges and experiences people can expect as they engage in the recovery process.

The myriad personal reflections of people whove recovered from eating disorders, along with their loved ones perspectives, can help us learn to ask the critical research and clinical questions. In Restoring Our Bodies, Reclaiming Our Lives, Aimee Liu has amassed a rich amalgam of human experience and added the professional expertise of members of the global Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) to provide deep insight into the recovery process. Here readers will find information about the tools and interventions that research, clinical knowledge, and personal experience have proven can help people recover.

In her last book, Gaining: The Truth about Life after Eating Disorders, Aimee used the expert interweaving of scientific and clinical understanding of eating disorders with the reality of personal experience to create a powerful, layered, and unflinching portrayal of life beyond recovery. Gaining is essential reading for people seeking recovery and for their families and friends, as well as for eating-disorder professionals. In