The Golden Cage: The Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa: The Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa, With a New Foreword by Catherine Steiner-Adair, Ed.D.

The Golden Cage: The Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa: The Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa, With a New Foreword by Catherine Steiner-Adair, Ed.D.

by M.D. Hilde Bruch (Author)

Synopsis

More than five million Americans suffer from eating disorders, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, and an estimated 1,000 women die each year from anorexia nervosa. Often quoting her patients' descriptions of their own experience of illness and recovery, Hilde Bruch described the relentless pursuit of thinness and the search for superiority in self-denial that characterize anorexia nervosa.

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 176
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 02 May 2001

ISBN 10: 0674005848
ISBN 13: 9780674005846
Book Overview: The story of the disorder itself is beautifully written, presented with a deftness, lightness, and accuracy that make the reader yearn to turn the page, to watch the unfolding of this very enigmatic disorder. This is the single most important professionally written book for laypersons and parents. -- Shervert H. Frazier, M.D., McLean Hospital The chief symptom is shocking: self-starvation leading to a devastating weight loss. The treatment is difficult, the cure elusive, and facts about the disease are not well known. Yet anorexia nervosa, an illness that was once quite rare, now afflicts increasing numbers of adolescents. In The Golden Cage, a renowned psychiatrist-recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on anorexia nervosa-relates her experience and discoveries in dealing with this baffling disorder. It is not, as the name implies, simply a loss of appetite. Rather, it involves a relentless pursuit of excessive thinness, undertaken despite continual hunger, acute pain, and occasionally fatal consequences. Dr. Bruch uses numerous examples from her own case studies to give a vivid picture of the causes, effects, and possible treatment of the disease. Her main concern: how can the symptoms be detected before they become entrenched as anorexia? The victims of anorexia are mostly adolescent and preadolescent girls who have otherwise been model children from good homes. Often they feel trapped by unattainable goals and expectations-a golden cage of privilege where they feel they do not belong and cannot survive. Dr. Bruch's experience has convinced her that early diagnosis is essential to any treatment of anorexia, and her book is addressed to physicians, teachers, school counselors, and parents-to all who are in a position of observing these youngsters before a chronic and often irreversible state develops. Hilde Bruch is Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and is the author of numerous articles and books, including Eating Disorders. Her latest book, Learning Psychotherapy: Rationale and Ground Rules, was published by Harvard University Press.

Media Reviews
The Golden Cage is eminently readable and generously spiced with vivid illustrations from Bruch's own clinical case material. Her discussion of and generalization from this material are wonderfully astute. Contemporary Psychology An extraordinary achievement...Bruch wrote with clarity, insight and compassion of her cases during the anorexia outbreak of the early '70s, an epidemic that seemed to arise out of nowhere, with no official diagnosis. -- Holly Brubach New York Times Style Magazine 20070501
Author Bio
Hilde Bruch was Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and the author of several books including Eating Disorders.