Feeding the empty heart: Adult children and compulsive eating

by Barbara McFarland, Tyeis Baker Baumann, Tyeis Baker-Baumann, et al.

Book Overview

Here is the first book to make the connection between eating disorders and adult children of alcoholics--a link that offers new hope for compulsive overeaters. Outlines effective treatment options,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0894865013
• ISBN13: 9780894865015
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Hazelden
• Length: 106 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 1.1"

Customer Reviews

Understanding Compulsive Behavior

Many children who grew up in an alcoholic families attempt to cope with the pain through behaviors which are potentially addictive. This groundbreaking book is the first to explain why children of alcoholics are especially prone to developing the addictive illness of compulsive eating. Therapists Barbara McFarland and Tyeis Baker-Baumann, experts in the treatment of compulsive eating, take a thorough and insightful look at the relationship between compulsive eating and adult children of alcoholic issues. They reveal the following four factors which, if present in the alcoholic home, may foster eating disorders: *Alcoholism has progressed far enough that it twarts the child's ability to develop trust, self-esteem, interpersonal skills, and a solid personal identitiy. *The family uses food to comfort and console, or views weight/apperances as signpost identity. *The child receives "mixed messages" about his or her parents' traditional sex roles. *The child adopts certain roles within the alcoholic family system. Feeding the Empty Heart not only offers an understanding of the problem of eating disorders in adult children of alcoholics, it also outlines effective treatment options, describes the recovery process and shares personal stories that make poignantly clear the struggles - and rewards - that lie along the way to recovery. -- from book's back cover