Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too [Paperback]

Jenni Schaefer (Author), Thom Rutledge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2003

A unique new approach to treating eating disorders

Eight million women in the United States suffer from anorexia nervosa and/or bulimia. For these women, the road to recovery is a rocky one. Many succumb to their eating disorders. Life Without Ed offers hope to all those who suffer from these often deadly disorders. For years, author Jennifer Schaefer lived with both anorexia and bulimia. She credits her successful recovery to the technique she learned from her psychologist, Thom Rutledge.

This groundbreaking book illustrates Rutledge's technique. As in the author's case, readers are encouraged to think of an eating disorder as if it were a distinct being with a personality of its own. Further, they are encouraged to treat the disorder as a relationship rather than as a condition. Schaefer named her eating disorder Ed; her recovery involved "breaking up" with Ed

• Shares the points of view of both patient and therapist in this approach to treatment
• Helps people see the disease as a relationship from which they can distance themselves
• Techniques to defeat negative thoughts that plague eating disorder patients

Prescriptive, supportive, and inspirational, Life Without Ed shows readers how they too can overcome their eating disorders.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"The truth is we all talk to ourselves. We just need to get better at it," counsels psychotherapist Rutledge in this self-help book for women with eating disorders, which he wrote with one of his patients, Schaefer, a singer/songwriter and media personality in Nashville, who both binges and purges. As might be expected in a book that draws from both psychotherapy and country western music, the story concerns a fine woman and the no good man she's stuck with. In this case, the evil, controlling character is a non-person Schaefer names Ed, from the initials E.D. (as in eating disorder). Whether Schaefer is alone in her kitchen or dining with friends, she "hears" Ed telling her she resembles a "barnyard animal," that all the girls in her eating disorder therapy group are thinner than she is, or that it would feel good to go to bed on an empty stomach. "There is something inside me... that has chained itself to Ed with a heavy-duty lock and thrown away the key," she writes. With the help of therapist Rutledge, who shares his professional observations in sections entitled "Thom's Turn," Schaefer finally gains the strength to keep Ed at bay. Schaefer's literary construct of an interior voice will delight some readers and annoy others, but if it helps any readers overcome their own disorders, it's been effective.
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From the Back Cover

"Infused with humor, rich in vivid imagery, and deeply compassionate, this book brings hope to those who suffer from eating disorders, offering them creative tools.” -- David B. Herzog, M.D., professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

"Jenni’s quick wit and brilliant honesty are an inspiration to anyone trying to divorce themselves from an eating disorder ... an accessible, helpful must-read!” -- Lindsey Hall, author of Bulimia: A Guide to Recovery

Jenni had been in an abusive relationship with Ed for far too long. He controlled Jenni's life, distorted her self-image, and tried to physically harm her throughout their long affair. Then Jenni met psychotherapist and author Thom Rutledge. He taught her how to treat her eating disorder as a relationship, not a condition. By thinking of her eating disorder as a unique personality separate from her own, Jenni was able to break up with Ed once and for all.

Inspiring, compassionate, and filled with practical exercises to help you break up with your own personal E.D., Life Without Ed provides new hope for the disorders that plague millions of women and young girls. Beginning with Jenni's "divorce" from Ed, this supportive, lifesaving book combines a patient's insights and experiences with a therapist's prescriptions for success to help you live a healthier, happier life without Ed.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071422986
• ISBN-13: 978-0071422987
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,939 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Recovery > Drug Dependency
  • #7 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Eating Disorders

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing campy here. This is the real deal., February 25, 2004

By 

Sarah Wiley (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too (Paperback)

I just looked up the word "campy," and there is nothing campy about Life without Ed. As a woman recovering from an eating disorder and as a clinician treating eating disorders, I find this book to be a refreshing change from the staus quo of tortuous memoirs and over-intellectualized material that tends to occupy this market.

The recovery work described in this book is undoubtedly the real deal. Jenni Schaefer has obviously worked hard to overcome her eating disorder and she is to be congratulated for that. And while we're at it, let's congratulate her for the willingness to share her story so candidly, and for being creative enough to bring such a delightful sense of humor to this very serious subject matter. She no doubt gets some of the humor from her therapist and co-author Thom Rutledge. His writing (the best of which is Embracing Fear) always manages to bring together serious self-help and the kind of humor that offers a perspective that is in and of itself healing.

If you have even the slightest interest in understanding the inner-workings of eating disorders, buy this book. If you are a therapist or counselor who works with eating disorders, buy this book. If you love someone with an eating disorder, buy this book. And if you have an eating disorder --- definitely buy this book.

Who says medicine has to taste bad to be good? Learn, grow and enjoy Life without Ed.

Sarah Wiley, Ph.D.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for all recovering perfectionists, February 26, 2004

By 

"dohlendorf" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too (Paperback)

Jenni Schaefer has accurately captured the life and feelings of a perfectionist in her book Life Without Ed. Although I have never experienced an eating disorder, I obsess about calorie intake on a daily basis and am bound by the chains of physical appearance. I found the exercises at the end of each section helpful in confronting the voices and negative criticisms that my own abusive SuperEgo (Ed) throws my way.

Jenni Schaefer does not discount the seriousness of eating disorders nor does she try to convince you that divorce from ED is easy. She provides practical ways to distinguish between what is healthy and what is ED. The awarness that I gained from this book (especially section 1) has enabled me to start the separation process from my own abusive self criticism.

This book applies to all recovering perfectionists. The exercises, personal experiences, strength, and weakness that the author shared make it a real and valuable resource on my path to recovery. I highly recommend this book to anyone enduring self criticism and abuse.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I've read better....., December 28, 2006

By 

W. L. Bradley "To give anything less than you... (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too (Paperback)

In "Life Without Ed" Jenni Schaefer provides a look into her life and how, by learning to view herself and her eating disorder as separate beings, she overcame her disorder. I believe this process can work for some people, but it is not the "cure-all" for everyone. I am not discounting the author or her work or her process of recovery, but I could not get through this book and take any of it seriously enough to get anything of use out of it. Schaefer talks about writing a "Declaration of Independance", fashioned almost word-for-word after the original document, and then signed by members of her support group. In another part, she speaks of getting caller I.D. placed on her home telephone in order to prevent "Ed" from calling her.

When "Ed" is a voice inside one's head, the notion that said voice could morph into an actual physical being with the ability to use a telephone is rather absurd. I understand the symbolism behind it, but found myself laughing at various parts of what I presume is supposed to be a serious book, not a piece of comedy.

A better book is "Eli's Wings" by Elizabeth Best. Her book is a look into her life both with her eating disorder and through the recovery process. While she doesn't sugar-coat recovery (it is harder in some ways than living with the disorder), she also writes in a way that is captivating and leaves the reader inspired, rather than "triggered", like some other books out there.