Overcoming Overeating: Living Free in a World of Food

Hirschman and Munter, who teach at Manhattan's New School for Social Research and conduct therapy groups, here present a three-part program to help overeaters to ""live free in a world of food.'' The authors warn against dieting, with its weight-off-on-again discouragements, focusing on methods successfully adopted by their clients. Case histories dramatize the results of learning to distinguish ``stomach hunger''the body's legitimate need for sustenanceand artificial craving for treats as substitute for emotional satisfaction. Interviewees quoted here who have conquered food obsessions support the authors' claim that the program is revolutionary. The book is wordy but engagingly informal and accessible. It includes two questionnaires, one of which the authors request readers complete and return to them. First serial to Family Circle; Psychotherapy Book Club and Social Science Book Club selections. (April)