Customer Reviews

Hungers and Compulsions: The Psychodynamic Treatment of Eating Disorders and Addictions

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Hungers and Compulsions, co-edited by Jean Petrucelli, Ph.D. and Catherine Stuart, Ph.D. is an ambitious, thought-provoking and perhaps even life-altering, collection of scholarly writings by various experts on "addiction" in the broadest sense of the term.

While the book is targeted primarily at professionals in the fields of psychology/psychiatry, etc., as a lay person, I find myself reading it "compulsively" (if you'll excuse the pun), since it offers fascinating insights into areas which may touch our lives or the lives of those we know -- hunger disorders, cigarette smoking, alcoholism and drug addiction, etc.

The book also explores the patient-therapist relationship, from unique vantage points: often that of the therapist and his or her own needs or the analysis of a literary character's behavior.

If you are looking for substantive summer reading, I think you'll find it dulce et utile. After reading the first few chapters, I was shocked to find myself in the exercise room for the first time in my life! Perhaps it was the image of the coughing cigarette smoker or the patient who yanked and ate her hair. Hopefully, it will inspire others towards positive change, as well.

This book is fascinating. I was delighted that - although I am not a psychoanalyst - the book is written with such clarity that I could easily understand its complex psychological concepts.

I was attracted to the book because I am a writer and it contains a section about creativity and addiction which I found extraordinarily insightful.

This book makes excellent reading and is also a useful tool for self-examination.