"Mary M - Ohio" wrote in message
...
Hi all --

My two books from Amazon came -- Richard Fairburn's "Overcoming Binge
Eating" and
Laurel Mellin's "The Solution" -- both intended to help me understand
reasons behind
overeating, not only because it has been a lifelong problem, but
especially since I
have been having such trouble with overeating over the past few months.

I have finished the Fairburn book and was not overly moved by it ... in
fact I found
that most of it didn't seem to apply to me, but to those afflicted with
bulimia. The
time he spent discussing binge eating disorder was marked by admissions
that almost
nothing is known about it. I guess I concluded that I don't have binge
eating
disorder, because I couldn't relate to much that was said about it, though
I was
expecting the opposite. The book was too "scientific" for my liking -- I
need
something more emotionally appealing -- but perhaps this impression is
just from the
fact that I couldn't recognize myself in the first part of the book which
explains
binge behavior -- again, I hadn't expected that at all.

Hey, sorry for the late reply - I wanted to put some thought into it.

Sorry you found the book disappointing. OTOH, it's probably not a bad thing
that you didn't identify with it. I liked the scientific aspect of it
because for some reason I felt like it validated what I was going through
when others were telling me to just snap out of it or worse making me feel
like my situation was the result of a personal failure or character defect.

I do like the books that are emotionally appealing which is why I continued
to read other books this summer.

I've just started "The Solution" which is way more suited to my own
feelings,
experience, and immediate needs. Already I've had the "that's me" feeling
numerous
times, even though I've only read about 25 pages -- and I never got that
feeling from
the Fairburn book, perhaps because it was written from such a clinical
standpoint --
the "program" part of his book seemed to focus on keeping a food journal
and not a
whole lot beyond that -- and keeping a food journal was very good for my
weight loss
but it hasn't had any lasting effects on stopping the underlying reasons
and urges to
overeat.

For whatever reason, the type of journal he recommended worked for me when
nothing else has. I always kept a food log, but not always recording the
"situation" or my perceptions of how in control I was. It was good for me
to see where my perceptions were skewed at times. It's a basic tenet of
cognitive therapy which I underwent for a different situation many moons
ago. It really helped me change my way of thinking which helped me change
my behavior. I also use it on some of my ED (emotionally disturbed)
students.

I'll also look at "The Solution" because I'm always looking for good books
to address my issues. I'm glad you found something to help!

Jenn