Embodiment and the Treatment of Eating Disorders

Cook-Cottone posits a new approach, incorporating body-based elements to help clients heal from eating disorders. Over 350 references provide the reader with a broad-based research library, connecting theoretical underpinnings of the approach and its basis. It also compiles Cook-Cottone's experience of over 20 years working with clients healing from eating disorders and her research, including 20 publications...this book provides an insightful approach for clinicians that can enhance their effectiveness in their work with clients recovering from eating disorders.--The Professional Counselor The fact that the book is about so many other aspects of life beyond eating underscores the author's premise that EDs are about so much more than food and size....The book is replete with valuable practices, guides, meditations, scripts and exercises to use in therapy sessions to promote embodiment.--New York Journal of Books Catherine Cook-Cottone gives us the 'missing piece' that we need to elevate the treatment of eating disorders--beyond the mere reduction of eating disorder symptoms to helping people embrace and love their bodies and live their fullest lives. This guide is based on solid scientific evidence and extensive clinical experience and includes all of the tools to put the practice to work right away.--Jessica M. Alleva, PhD, Associate Professor in Psychology at Maastricht University, the Netherlands Dr. Cook-Cottone eloquently paints both the disturbing picture of pain and dysfunction underlying eating disorders and the hope and optimism of living a different life--an embodied life. She presents a roadmap of the multiple pathways to positive embodiment that not only relieve eating disorder symptoms but lead to a life with purpose and meaning. The heartfelt writing alone allowed me to sense the joy and relief of being more present in my own body.--Anne E. Cox, PhD, Associate Professor of Kinesiology, Washington State University This timely new volume is a beacon of hope for realizing the promise of embodied well-being in the journey of recovery from eating disorders through fully actualizing one's power and authenticity from the position of the embodied self. The EAT-ED approach compassionately transforms viewing the body as a liability to one that is a mission-driven resource. This critical shift is cultivated through a wealth of evidence-based mind-body practices inviting the potential of life-giving nourishment and lasting fulfillment for the hungry ghost within.--Jennifer B. Webb, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychological Science, Health Psychology PhD Program, UNC Charlotte