Culture and weight consciousness vs Enduring change in eating disorders

Culture and weight consciousness

Mervat Nasser

1997

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are among the few psychiatric syndromes with a plausible socio-cultural model of causation. Issues of culture and slimness are usually considered in terms of the experience of the western world, but there is a growing body of research suggesting that concern with slimness is becoming more prevalent in non-western cultures. In Culture and Weight Consciousness, Mervat Nasser brings together this research and looks at the recent emergence of eating disorders in cultures that were previously free of such problems. She relates the feminist theories that have been put forward to explain the phenomenon of eating disorders in the west to the condition of modern women in many non-western cultures and concludes that their position is not at all that different from that of their western counterparts. This leads her to address the current limitations of the concept of culture and draw out the implications for future research.

Enduring change in eating disorders

H. Charles Fishman

2004

Enduring Change in Eating Disorders provides a unique perspective on the successful treatment of eating disorders, which are among the most debilitating and recalcitrant psychiatric diseases. Unique in the field, this book details effective Structural Family Therapy with qualitative follow-ups of up to 20 years. A practical approach providing concrete tools to the clinician to creating change that holds over time with bulimia, anorexia, and compulsive overeating. The text draws on cases from the author's practice of over twenty-five years and follows his approach in the theoretical tradition of Intensive Structural Family Therapy (IST). Chapters discuss the nature and significance of eating disorders, a review of current treatment approaches, and the importance of the family in the therapeutic process. Cases of eating disorders in youths and adults are provided as well as instances of bulimia, anorexia, and compulsive overeating. Three appendices provide the reader with information regarding the scientific basis of the IST model, the effectiveness of the approach in treating conditions other than eating disorders and preventing eating disorders.