The Long Road Back: A Survivor's Guide to Anorexia

Speaking as a recovered anorexic and offering informed advice to others with the condition, Sargent presents a strong critique of the treatment she received during the 10 years she was afflicted with anorexia nervosa. She was first hospitalized at the age of 15, after it became clear to her mother that she was endangering her health by refusing to eat. The punitive behavior modification program she underwent (family visits were denied if she failed to gain weight) foreshadowed years of hospitalizations that she contends did nothing to ease her condition. Sargent vividly portrays uncaring staff who subjected her to painful tube feedings when she wouldn't eat. She also describes how she rebelled by drinking water to increase her weight, by running away and, with another patient, by playing practical jokes on a hated hospital physician. After other psychologists prescribed drugs and electroconvulsive therapy, Sargent twice attempted suicide. Not until she was admitted to a facility where the staff was supportive and non-judgmental did she begin to recover. Sargent also credits a therapist who treated her as an individual rather than an anorexic, her conversion to Roman Catholicism and the unstinting support of her mother as important to her recovery. Although her writing is at times awkward, Sargent honestly depicts herself, in the throes of her illness, as a young woman who was stubborn, manipulative and difficult to treat. Now a nurse, she intends to work with others who are afflicted with eating disorders. (Oct.)