Making Weight: Healing Men's Conflicts with Food, Weight, and Shape [Paperback]

M.D. Arnold Andersen (Author), Leigh Cohn M.A.T. (Author), M.D. Tom Holbrook (Author), Tom Holbrook MD (Author), Leigh Cohn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2000

The negative body-image epidemic that affects millions of women is also a hidden problem for millions of men. In spite of a decade-long emphasis on health and fitness - or perhaps because of it - more men are suffering from a variety of eating disorders and self-abusive behaviors. Using vignettes from their patients, the authors present a new program to help men overcome these problems. They offer ways to enhance self-image, facts about why diets fail, information about the dangers of using steroids, and a section for women who want to help the men in their life.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Andersen (psychiatry, Iowa State Univ.; ed., Males with Eating Disorders), Leigh Cohn (ed., Eating Disorders, the Journal of Treatment and Prevention), and Thomas Holbrook, a medical specialist, also address men's concerns with physical appearance, drawing attention to fat as a men's issue and focusing on obesity and eating disorders. After extended discussions on the developmental, social, and evolutionary factors contributing to appearance ad self-esteem, the authors provide "a proactive proposition for men who want to feel and look better" in "Ten Steps to Healthy Living," with advice on nutrition, exercise, relationships, and social and spiritual concerns. Holbrook relates his own story of recovery from eating disorders and excessive exercise. Courses of treatment are described, and a final chapter offers advice for families and loved ones... [Gives] reading lists and resources on where to seek further help... recommended for public library collections.
Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A powerful, much-needed exposé of the current state of the male psyche and body image." -- Margo Maine, Ph.D. Author of Father Hunger: Fathers, Daughters & Food

"A terrific book about men's concerns with their shape and weight. Highly recommended!" -- John P. Foreyt, Ph.D. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

"Finally, weight-obsessed men have an exceptional resource that is authoritative, sensitive and practical." -- David M. Garner, Ph.D. Co-editor, Handbook of Treatment for Eating Disorders

"This book is a very accessible, highly practical combination of the authors' personal, professional, and political experiences in helping males." -- Michael Levine, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Kenyon College, Gambier, OH

"This will be the standard text on males and eating disorders for years to come." -- Craig Johnson, Ph.D. President-elect of Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Gurze Books; 1 edition (April 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936077352
• ISBN-13: 978-0936077352
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #196,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Academy for Eating Disorders Review May 21, 2002

By "its_laurie"

Format:Paperback

This book offers the lay person a comprehensive guide to weight and body image issues in men and promises to be a valuable resource for men and their families. The authors make compelling arguments for how and why these problems have increased for males over the last decade. The book is directed primarily toward men "who can't stand the way they look in the mirror, and the ones who are so driven for perfection that they neglect the deeper areas of life"(p.xiv). However, it is also intended for family and friends of such men and professionals who may treat them in clinical practice. The tone and style of the book would appeal a bit more to a lay audience than a professional one, and I think would make a good "recommended reading" for a therapist to offer to a client.

Overall, this book makes a very important contribution ... and one that you can recommend to your patients for an informative and insightful examination of men's concerns with weight and shape.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Review by Joel Yager, M.D. May 21, 2002

By Joel Yager

Format:Paperback

You'd never suspect from looking at the cover articles of men's fitness magazines at your local newsstands, but until now men had cause to feel neglected by the body dissatisfaction mavens of the academic community. In contrast to the scores of books written about women's issues about their bodies, eating disorders, and related topics, the literature addressed to males has been thin indeed. Men with eating disorders can now feel cared about too.

Dr. Tom Holbrook's account of his own struggle with anorexia nervosa is a highlight of the book. This remarkably candid, self-revelatory story of an astute psychiatrist whose struggles permeated his medical and psychiatric training and subsequent practice is probably matchless in the annals of wounded healers.

The last sections concern recovery, dealing with topics from basic nutritional information designed to foster realistic dietary and meal planning for gaining (or losing) weight, to psychological, social and spiritual aspects of recovery.

16 of 23 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Light Treatment July 3, 2000

By "macheide"

Format:Paperback

Surprise surprise! Men have bodies, too; and what they see in their own glass or mental mirrors has as deep a sociological and psychological influence as for women. Inevitably, then, habitual use of food and exercise to control the personal impulses and cultural responses could never remain a "woman's problem." What will be regretable will be how many male deaths and destroyed lives it will take before that simple point does not have to be the main theme opening a book such as this...and then pretty much the only theme of substance that the authors seem interested in fleshing out throughout the rest of their superficial treatment of the subject. Before this book, material on male eating disorders was quite rare and frequently misguided; after this book, good material on male eating disorders remains just as rare as before. With the deep experience brought to the matter by all three respectable authors, that suggests a depressing prognosis for finding any understanding out there among less knowledgeable therapists and others in a position to support recovery. Sure, the book throws a wide net in the search for causes and recognizes the core of the issue in its suggestions for recovery; but in an attempt to reach a general public audience, they have gone so light-headed that they come off like quack doctors probing any place it might maybe hurt, then handing out snake oil for the remedy. Even with gender identity running so horribly ferociously through the problem for both sexes, men who suffer and the family and support systems helping them would do better at this point to look to any of the excellent books already published for women.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just For Men April 5, 2011

By Jeff

Format:Paperback

I found this book very helpful. As a man who is working through exercise addiction, anorexia and recognizing my own self worth, this book was an excellent supplement to the counseling and nutritional programs in which I was already involved. Although I found the first half of the book to be similar to others (history of eating and eating disorders, cultural influences, societal context) and interesting, I got the most out of chapters 5 through 9. Those chapters are inspirational because of the "psychoeducational" aspect. Reading about studies that discuss our body's wisdom, capabilities AND limits along with the physical and mental effects of starvation and overuse were quite succint and poignant. While reading these chapters I made connections with my own experience and found it "easier" to get better.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Making Weight" Makes Sense of Men's Struggle with Weight Management October 8, 2008

By Pavel Somov, Ph.D., author of "Lotus Effect," "Present Perfect," & "Eating the Moment" VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

What an excellent, normalizing, humanizing book on men's struggle with weight, shape and appearance. Dr. Holbrook's account of anorexia is a truly courages precedent of self-disclosure. The entire author trio offers a panoramic overview of various facets of male eating. The authors offer a psychologically healthy paradigm that shifts men's focus from weight management to shape management (after all, as the authors wisely note, "shape is easieer to change than weight). The books is replete with empirically sound discussion of the pitfalls of dieting and highly practical healthy eating and wellness tips. The book is accessible yet encyclopedic in scope: for example, it offers a discussion of the so-called sensory specific satiety and its interplay with appetite and overeating.

The book is by no means a rehashing of wellness truisms - the authors have managed to offer gender-specific, male-centered discussion of a whole gamut of food/eating-related topics ranging in scope from sexuality to fitness to such appearance topics as hair and love handles; and have offered a more than superficial analysis of self-help, psychological and psychopharmacological treatment options.

Of particular importance is the section for significant others of men with eating problems. The book offers ways to reach out to men struggling with weight management, in face-saving, ego-non-threatening ways. As such, the book is written with a good degree of psychological savvy and is clearly informed by the authors' extensive professional as well as personal experience with eating disorders in males.

"Making Weight" certainly makes the grade as a no-nonsense resource for men struggling with weight, shape and appearance.

Pavel Somov, Ph.D....
Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, 2008) Read more ›