Demystifying Anorexia Nervosa: An Optimistic Guide to Understanding and Healing

20 years ago being a parent to an Anorexia Nervosa patient often meant being subjected to scrutiny bordering on assumption that there must be some family "problem", overenmeshment etc. causing the child's illness. Dr. Luca's book sets the story straight and is genuinely helpful to parent's struggling with this disorder in an offspring, e.g. p 17, "Work with patient's) parents focused on helping them to cope better with Andrea's illness and on assuring them that they were not at fault." This book is written in a very readable style and, reflecting Dr. Luca's academic credentials, it is accurate and informative. I enthusiastically recommend it to my patients & their families.

This book offers lots of information, backed by both scientific sources and the author's personal experience as a physician. But what I appreciated most was the author's calm and reassuring tone. The book lives up to its subtitle, An Optimistic Guide to Understanding and Healing. Although Lucas describes admittedly alarming situations in detail, he does not sensationalize the disease. Instead he presents a very human side of both the victims and the loved ones (usually the parents). I found that Demystifying Anorexia Nervosa is an excellent complement to Ellyn Satter's books about children's eating and the "division of responsibility" idea. Lucas, like Satter, place great importance on respecting the individual and the individual's desire to make decisions for him/herself. (For those who have not read Satter's books, they describe how to have the right feeding relationship with your child, and also offer excellent practical advice on feeding babies through school age children.)