Costin Carolyn - 8 keys to recovery from an eating disorder: effective strategies from therapeutic practice and personal experience

T he 8 Keys series was conceived to provide a library of intelligent, highly accessible bookswritten by specialists in their fieldsfor consumers who may not want or be able to afford psychotherapy. The series aims to provide these readers with readily applicable techniques to aid the recovery of the condition being discussed. Each series volume can be easily used as a self-help tool or as an adjunct to psychotherapy itself. (From a wealth of reader feedback, I know that my own book, 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery, the first in this series, is used in both of these ways.) In addition, each book in the series includes background theory relevant to the featured topic to ensure that both consumer and helping professional are similarly informed. Knowledgeable consumers make better decisions about what does and does not help them. Therefore, any seeker of improved psychological health or personal growth should have access to the same information as the professionals; the theories and techniques that the psychotherapists use should not be kept a secret.

According to the Web site of the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), more than 20 million people in the U.S. alone suffer from an eating disorder. Moreover, they report, eating disorders account for the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. From the series inception, I hoped to include a book to help those with eating disorders. Given the prevalence of sufferers, I felt a resource for those affected was critical. Moreover, just about every helping professional encounters clients and patients with eating disorders in the course of dealing with a multitude of other presenting problems. Often an eating disorder is at the core of diagnoses such as depression or anxiety. Consumers and professionals need to consider the role of eating disorders on their own and as companions to other difficulties. Both well- and less-experienced professionals need guidelines, a logical framework, and highly usable tools to address eating disorders alone or in combination with treatment for other issues. And, finally, consumers and professionals alike need guidance to decide when seeking additional professional consultation might be in order.

Written by two psychotherapist colleagues, Carolyn Costin and Gwen Grabb, 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder outstandingly meets all of these criteria. Costin has been a prominent figure among eating disorders professionals for decades. Her previous books, Your Dieting Daughter and The Eating Disorders Sourcebook, are both well known and valued in the field. She wisely chose Grabb, a former client-turned-colleague, to co-write the book, creating a writing team and voice that is totally uniquenot only to books about eating disorders, but books about psychotherapy altogether. By offering the dual reflections of therapist and patient, this book may remind some readers of Irving Yaloms