Exploring Eating Disorders in Adolescents: v. 2: The Generosity of Acceptance

The number of people suffering from different eating disorders has grown dramatically within the last twenty years. These two volumes examine feeding difficulties and eating disorders in children and adolescents, from babies to 19-year-olds. The volumes consist of clinical cases that describe the process of psychoanalytic psychotherapy used to treat the patients. The contributors look at the underlying causes for the disorders, such as bulimia and anorexia, lead to a normal life with the help of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. In addition, this collection takes into account the profound effects eating disorders have, not only on the patients, but on their immediate family and friends as well.'Many cases describe the anxieties and strategies of defence used against feelings of dependence and the risk of accepting from another. This is a core theme in both volumes and is the principle idea behind the paradoxical title, The Generosity of Acceptance. This title applies primarily to the struggle of some patients to accept from another, to become dependent on another, but it also refers to the need of clinicians to accept generously the sometimes violent projections of the patients. The gift of help often involves a risk of rejection, and the chapters in these two volumes vividly describe the courage and generosity it takes to persevere with patients suffering from serious eating disorders.'- From the IntroductionContributors to Volume II:Sue Brough; Helene Dubinsky; Jeanne Magagn; Roberta Mondadori; Diomira Petrelli; Emanuela Quagliata; Kent Ravenscroft; and Luisa Carbone Tirelli.