Eating Disorders and Mindfulness ─ Exploring Alternative Approaches to Treatment

This book presents an overview of the latest psychological knowledge about the application of mindfulness-based interventions in the field of eating disorders. Increasingly, these interventions are used in therapeutic practice. They encourage clients to process their experience fully, as it arises, without judgement. Mindfulness-based approaches, in particular, emphasize the cultivation of moment to moment awareness of thoughts and feelings as well as bodily sensations. In so doing, eating disorders present an ideal context for the development of mindfulness. Indeed, it is in the body that the emotional and relational struggles of clients reveal themselves.

The authors in this diverse volume share a belief in the utility of using mindfulness-based practices to address disordered eating. It features up to date research and theory regarding mindfulness and the full spectrum of eating disorders, from Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa to Binge Eating Disorder. In addition, it explores how professionals can utilize mindfulness in their own practices, in the context of both individual and group treatment.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Eating Disorders: the Journal of Treatment and Prevention.

Dr. Leah DeSole is a psychologist in private practice in New York City, USA. She received her doctorate from Columbia University, and has taught at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA and Hunter College, CUNY, USA. She is a member of the editorial board for Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention and the author of Making Contact: The Therapist's Guide to Conducting a Successful First Interview (2006).