Customer Reviews

Regaining Your Self: Breaking Free from the Eating Disorder Indenty: A Bold New Approach

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As a person who suffered from anorexia and bulimia in my younger years, I find Dr. Ira Sacker's book on eating disorders wonderful. It contains powerful information to help sufferers of eating disorders gain insight on their condition and heal themselves.

According to the author one of the factors that trigger anorexia are the judgments that one has on oneself, the belief that one is "not" perfect and the quest for never attainable perfection. The persons afflicted with the disease are plagued with the idea that they are flawed and that life will only get better when they reach an ideal weight.

This "cursed" way of thinking is not only symptomatic of people who suffer from an eating disorder. For me, what made all the difference was finding a place of acceptance of myself where I stopped working on myself and striving to reach unrealistic goals. The book Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: A Book About Instantaneous Transformation by Ariel and Shya Kane really supported me in discovering that place and transformed my life. The Kanes bring the message that we are perfect just the way we are and that if we can stop listening to those delusional conversations in our heads about our imperfections, life can transform instantaneously into an exciting adventure.

If you are or have been suffering from an Eating Disorder and are looking to strengthen your ability to be yourself, experience satisfaction and live free of neurotic behavior, I urge you to look into the work of Ariel and Shya Kane (they have written 2 other books How To Create a Magical Relationship and Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment). They bring a very real and instantaneous possibility for Healing that very few people have had the chance to experience.

I have been a compulsive overeater for twenty-five years. I can't calculate the damage this has done to my life. I have been to four therapists, attended Overeaters Anonymous, and read scores of books on diet, exercise, overeating, and compulsive behavior. All of them have provided clues, but none of them taught me the comprehensive overview of why I behave the way I do and what is needed to recover that this book has done.

It has answered all of my questions, and several more that I didn't know to ask. It showed how a great deal of my strange behavior is not just a quirky personality, but the direct result of my disease. The book has shown me the way to real healing. I am very grateful to the author for making this information available.

Yes, the book focuses on anorexics and bulimics. Yes, sometimes the book seems to be addressing patients and other times therapists. Yes, some of the book does not seem to relate to me. But this is probably necessary given the books objectives and, as I said, it addresses every concern I had and more.

I am now looking for a therapist who is willing to read the book and work through its approach with me. This book is a life changer.

I highly recommend Dr. Ira Sacker's book to anyone suffering from an eating disorder, as well as to their families, friends, professionals, and anyone else interested in this area. God has used this book to help me understand so much about my own seventeen year struggle with anorexia, which began at the age of thirteen, and it has given me hope on my road to recovery. I have experienced all of the slips, lapses, relapses, and collapses, in which he explains in his writings. I now see a light at the end of this long dark tunnel. Dr. Sacker has been working in the field of eating disorders for more than 35 years; and his knowledge and unique approach known as PIRT-Personal Interactive Rational Therapy-is profound. This book is validating, informative, and deeply insightful. I have finally grasped that overwhelming anxiety along with other issues is at the core of eating disorders, rather than weight and food. Dr. Sacker does not just write about the underlying problems, but provides how one can overcome them by finding their passion in life. I can see Dr. Sacker's heart and soul in every page of this book. I am so grateful to him for his dedication, compassion, sensitivity, and incredible desire to see individuals regain their true selves and to be free from the "hell" that they are in. I am also eternally grateful to God for the contribution that he has made to the eating disorder field. Dr. Ira Sacker is a blessing. Please buy his book and internalize its truths, so that you can become the person you are meant to be. As Dr. Sacker quotes, from an anonymous source, "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly." Sincerely, Dawn D.

This book purports that lack of identity, perfectionism and anxiety are intrinsic in eating disorders. It was helpful to think about the connection of these issues because identifying the problem makes it easier to address. At times I wasn't sure if the author was speaking to clinicians or lay people. His vast experience seems to be with clients who suffer from anorexia or bulimia. He does say that eating disorders are on a continuum which would include compulsive overeaters, but for those who deal with compulsive overeating you may find yourself wanting more examples of overeaters. There's not a lot of practical advice for addressing anxiety, perfectionism and identity issues. I wish the author had gone a little bit further in presenting concrete ways to work with the problem.

Ira Sacker's approach to treating eating disorders is indeed a bold new one. His refreshing approach known as PIRT (Personal Interactive Rational Therapy) takes the focus away from the food and the eating and shines the spotlight where it is most needed--on the individual's path of self-discovery. PIRT transcends traditional approaches to treating eating disorders as it provides the client the safety, space, and support to discover her own identity, independent of the confines of her eating disorder.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of eating disorders in such a compelling, fascinating, and illuminating way. Ira demystifies the lure of eating disorders by explaining how they can serve as ways (albeit unhealthy ones) to help individuals relieve their anxiety, while also giving them a sense of identity. His therapy focuses on helping the individual redefine themselves in terms of their passions and interests--and not by their body shape and weight.

Regaining Your Self is filled with compassion and understanding for those suffering from eating disorders. Ira stresses that effective treatment is one that respects the individual's difficult journey of giving up the eating disorder identity and replacing it with their newly discovered personal identity. This journey is beautifully summarized in a quote by Anais Nin that appears in the final chapter of the book:
"...and the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom..."

I found this book to be of interest so far as framing the core issues surrounding eating disorders. However it is lacking in practical application. I did not find any concrete guidance on what I could do myself to attack these issues. Instead the author focuses on his prowess in the theraputic environment and offers little advice on how to find a similar environment or tangible activities a person suffering from a disorder can follow. There are many web links and organizations listed in the back - but that does little to guide me on where to go from here. I think the book is ultimately better for the therapist versus the patient.

Take an appearance-fixated society, add an individual with an obsessive personality, a dash of anxiety and a measure of perfectionism, and you have the perfect recipe for an eating disorder. Dr. Ira Sacker has been treating people with eating disorders for more than two decades and thoroughly understands the dynamics of this devastating condition. He's cooked up a compassionate, interactive therapeutic approach to healing that reaches past the boundaries of food, weight and calories. People suffering from eating disorders become their disease, focusing solely on it as their identity, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The author's premise is that the way to usurp this "eating disorder identity" is to develop a real, healthier identity based on discovering and pursuing your passions. If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, getAbstract suggests that you will find hopeful information in this book. It certainly serves up food for thought.

Dr Sacker has addressed the essence of eating disorders in "Regaining YourSelf". He has shown how the eating disorder is not about food or weight but rather about a lost, or more correctly, an undiscovered self. He has demonstrated by presenting the theoretical along with the personal how he has successfully touched the lives of numerous patients. This book is a valuable resource for the professional as well and for the patient and family members who would like to gain from Dr Sacker's years of success treating eating disorders.

This book may be a good introduction for those who have never read anything about eating disorders, but those familiar with the literature are likely to find themselves disappointed in this somewhat strange little book. While Dr Sacker is a well-known individual in the field, on examination, it's hard to really know just how much of this book he actually wrote. The book is attributed to Sacker "with" Shela Buff...yet we never once hear who she is, a fairly sure sign that the book has been ghost written. To compound the mystery, inside we find Laura McDonald M.S. given credit for "writing, editing and development of theory", as well as providing "heart and soul" to the book. Given both of these attributions, one begins to wonder just how much Dr. Sacker actually had to do with the production of this book.

Readers may also find the organization of the text irritating. Perhaps 50% of the pages contain excerpts from that page's text, extracted and highlighted in boxes of their own. In some instances the excerpts are direct quotes from the text, in others several sentences have been modified or combined to make new sentences. I found this unrelenting editorial convention to be obnoxious and distracting and other readers may find it the same.

In regards to the book's content, while case studies are mentioned, rarely, if ever, do we hear from the clients themselves. This sort of summarizing may leave many readers who have eating disorders themselves feeling like bystanders.

When we finally get to Dr Sacker's "Bold New Approach" we find that it consists of discovering the things in life that the client is truly passionate about, encouraging the client to pursue these passions, thereby establishing a more authentic self-identity to replace that which their ED currently provides them with. While this approach is a useful, honest and legitimate one, those familiar with ED treatment may find it somewhat simplistic, and not quite the bold and novel approach the book promises.

While Dr Sacker is obviously a caring and insightful individual, those familiar with the many good books on EDs currently in print may find themselves left wondering about the nature of Dr Sacker's connection to it, and how and why it came to be written in the first place.

I really enjoyed reading the book "Regaining Your Self" by Ira M. Sacker. Having had an eating disorder in my teens, I found this book both innovative and informative. His approach is transformational. Dr. Sacker's approach known as PIRT - Personal Interactive Rational Therapy. This approach provides a basic framework that moves the patient toward their own personal recovery. I found this book to be compassionate, intuitive, heart felt and honest.

Another book I read and really enjoyed was Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: The 3 Simple Ideas That Will Instantaneously Transform Your Life by award winning authors Ariel and Shya Kane. This book is refreshing and light, and a wonderful way to assist in freeing yourself from your old perceptions.