Product Description
Dr. Susan J. Mendelsohn is all too familiar with eating disorders: she has personally wrestled with them for more than fifteen years. It’s Not about the Weight: Attacking Eating Disorders from the Inside Out is part self-help guide and part memoir that tackles growing up with—and growing through—the challenge of body image distortions.

Whether you’re just beginning your battle with an eating disorder (ED) or have struggled for years, this guide addresses the common themes of weight and body image preoccupations, the psychological place in which you may find yourself and, most importantly, how you can manage these obsessions through practical steps of self-healing—from the inside out.

Weaving real-life cases of Dr. Mendelsohn’s clinical practice with her own personal struggles, this compelling success story shows you the appropriate steps in how to overcome the obstacles of weight and body image, how to triumphantly manage weight during recovery, how to maintain an overall satisfying existence, and how to finally live your life no matter what shape, size, or weight you are at any given time. Take this unique opportunity to let It’s Not about the Weight guide you to a successful recovery and an overall healthy and balanced lifestyle!

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 16 reviews)

Full of triggers

In just the first two or three pages, the author uses specific (and extremely low) numbers to refer to "ideal" weights and calorie intakes. This, as any psychiatrist worth her salt will tell you, is one of the biggest triggers with whichyou could confront an anorexic -- recovering or not. If you have an ED (as I do, and I'm in recovery), this book will most likely make you very uncomfortable and throw a lot of hard-to-suppress triggers at you. I found myself falling back into malignant thought patterns as soon as my eyes registered the numbers the author had written. Read a different book. This one won't help you.
October 21, 2008

Nothing new

The book is mostly a narrative of a personal history. It has few direct guidelines for recovery, and these are dispersed on that narrative. There are many other books that say the same things as this one.
August 31, 2008

Therapy in a book

Though this book doesn't look like a New York Times Bestseller, the content an amazing compilation of the science and psychology behind eating disorders along with the author's own relatable journey through the process. Being a psychologist AND someone who's gone through an eating disorder herself, Susan understands how to convey the message to her readers. While explaining the psychology behind eating disorders, she also offers some practical ideas about how to change the disordered thinking... this is a great book that is a handy "therapy session" whenever you need some encouragement.
June 05, 2008

Pretty disappointing

After reading all the positive reviews for this book, I was pretty disappointed in the book....I found the book overly simplistic (she assumes the reader has zero knowledge about either psychology or eating disoders, which I would imagine is not true of most readers) and also found "Dr. Susie's" need to constantly pour out overly dramatic details from her own life somewhat annoying. I felt like she was having a written therapy session with the reader, only I didn't sign up to be her therapist. And I found her "just change your attitude and all will be OK" mantra a little silly. That being said, there were some good nuggets in there if you just kept reading; in particular, the quotes at the end of each chapter from her patients were helpful. All in all, I wouldn't recommend buying this book given the enormous number of other books out there on the subject.
April 12, 2008

Outstanding

I highly suggest this book for anyone who has an eating disorder, or cares about someone who is experiencing one. Dr. Mendelsohn is extremely knowledgable about the causes and mental battles of an eating disorder from a doctor's stand point, but also has fought one herself. What she shares about her own journey helped me see that good can come out of painful pasts. She has overcome and her perspective is amazing! You can hear her encouragement and care come through on each page of the book.
June 24, 2007

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