Brave Girl Eating: The inspirational true story of one family's battle with anorexia

Description

Millions of families are affected by eating disorders, which usually strike young women between the ages of fourteen and twenty. But current medical practice ties these families' hands when it comes to helping their children recover. Conventional medical wisdom dictates separating the patient from the family and insists that 'it's not about the food', even as a family watches a child waste away before their eyes. In BRAVE GIRL EATING Harriet Brown describes how her family, with the support of an open-minded paediatrician and a therapist, helped her daughter recover from anorexia using a family-based treatment developed at the Maudsley Hospital in London. Chronicling her daughter Kitty's illness from the earliest warning signs, through its terrifying progression, and on toward recovery, Brown takes us on one family's journey into the world of anorexia nervosa, where starvation threatened her daughter's body and mind. BRAVE GIRL EATING is essential reading for families and professionals alike, a guiding light for anyone who's coping with this devastating disease.

Harriet Brown is an award-winning journalist, author, poet and editor who contributes regulalrly to the New York Times Science section. Her blog FEED ME! covers food, eating disorders, and obesity. A regularly sought-after speaker, Brown has been a featured panelist at the National Eating Disorders Association annual conference.

BRAVE GIRL EATING is a story that gets too close for comfort; it's an honest account of the toll anorexia takes on the writer's family and their tenacious, loving efforts to fight back. Harriet Brown is an intelligent, elegant writer and this book offers both solace and useful information for families struggling with eating disorders - Audrey Niffenegger A mother's harrowing chronicle of the years anorexia held her daughter captive, and the long road back - PEOPLE magazine Harriet Brown's BRAVE GIRL EATING is an up close and personal account of one family's struggle to help a child with anorexia nervosa. What sets this book apart is the author's incorporation of clinical research findings from the field of eating disorders into the story of one family's struggle. Ms. Brown's tale of how her family was able to participate in her daughter's recovery process is a compelling story of family strength and an inspiring story for all of us committed to treating individuals with eating disorders - Evelyn Attia, MD, Director, Center for Eating Disorders, Columbia University Medical Center, Weill Cornell Medical College [BRAVE GIRL EATING] is an inspirational story of one courageous family's fight against anorexia nervosa. We feel the heart-wrenching nature of anorexia through the eyes of a mother who will never give her daughter up. But more importantly we learn that - Susan Paxton, Professor, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University