Recommended Reading
Books I recommend to clients, families and fellow clinicians, grouped by topic. Each button opens the book on Amazon.
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Eating disorder recovery
Sick Enough
Jennifer L. Gaudiani, MD
An eating disorder physician explains what restriction, purging and overexercise do to the body, and why you don't have to look ill to be medically at risk. Useful for people in recovery, their families and clinicians.
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8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder
Carolyn Costin and Gwen Schubert Grabb
Two therapists who recovered from eating disorders themselves lay out recovery in eight parts, with writing assignments you can work through on your own or with your therapist.
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Life Without Ed
Jenni Schaefer
Jenni Schaefer writes about her recovery by treating her eating disorder as a separate voice, "Ed", that she learned to talk back to. Short chapters you can read one at a time.
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Goodbye Ed, Hello Me
Jenni Schaefer
The follow-up to Life Without Ed. It's about the stretch after things get better, and why being fully recovered is possible, not just "managing".
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Eating in the Light of the Moon
Anita Johnston, PhD
Anita Johnston uses myths, fairy tales and stories to explore what food and eating can stand in for. A good fit if you think in images more than checklists.
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Making Peace with Your Plate
Robyn Cruze and Espra Andrus, LCSW
A woman in recovery and a licensed therapist write side by side, mixing personal story with practical steps for everyday situations around food.
View on Amazon (opens in a new tab)Leaving diet culture behind
Anti-Diet
Christy Harrison
A registered dietitian traces where diet culture comes from and how it shows up in "wellness" talk, then makes the case for eating without rules.
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Health at Every Size
Lindo Bacon
The book that made the weight-neutral approach to health widely known: caring for your body through how you live, not the number on the scale.
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The F*ck It Diet
Caroline Dooner
A funny, blunt take on quitting dieting for good. Good for anyone who's tired of starting over every Monday.
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Body Kindness
Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN
A dietitian's guide to looking after your health through rest, movement, food and relationships, without a diet attached.
View on Amazon (opens in a new tab)Self-compassion and body image
Self-Compassion
Kristin Neff, PhD
The researcher who first found a way to measure self-compassion explains what it is and how to practice it, with exercises throughout.
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The Wisdom of Your Body
Hillary L. McBride, PhD
A therapist writes about reconnecting with your body and listening to it, rather than living from the neck up.
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The Body Is Not an Apology
Sonya Renee Taylor
A book about radical self-love and how the way we judge bodies, ours and other people's, connects to the wider world we live in.
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Daring Greatly
Brené Brown, PhD
Brené Brown's research on shame and vulnerability, and why letting yourself be seen takes courage.
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Befriending Your Body
Ann Saffi Biasetti
Self-compassion, mindfulness and gentle body-based practices for healing from disordered eating.
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When Your Teen Has an Eating Disorder
Lauren Muhlheim, PsyD
A psychologist walks parents through family-based treatment, with practical strategies for helping a teen at home through anorexia, bulimia or binge eating.
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"Pure O" OCD
Chad LeJeune, PhD
For obsessive thoughts without obvious compulsions. Uses acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to change how you relate to the thoughts, rather than fighting them.
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Freedom from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Jonathan Grayson, PhD
A self-guided recovery program built on exposure and response prevention, centered on learning to live with uncertainty.
View on Amazon (opens in a new tab)Dissociation
Dissociation Made Simple
Jamie Marich, PhD
A plain-language, stigma-free guide to understanding dissociation and getting through daily life with a dissociative mind.
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