Compulsive Exercise And The Eating Disorders

The author examines the linkages and similarities between compulsive athletics and eating disorders, and proposes that they are different manifestations of a single condition: the activity disorder.

Alayne Yates, M.D.

Acknowledgments, PART I . Clinical Issues, 1. Independent Activity: Exercise and Diet, 2. Historical and Cultural Perspectives, 3. Obligatory Running, 4. Obligatory Running and the Eating Disorders, 5. From Gymnastics to Bodybuilding, PART II. Theoretical Overview, 6. Biological Theory, 7. Psychological Theory, 8. Analytic Theory, PART III. A Theory of Activity, 9. Intrapsychic Functions of Activity, 10. Adapting to Expectations, 11. Becoming Independent, 12. The Body, 13. Risk Factors, 14. Narcissism, 15. Relationship to Other Conditions, 16. Therapy for the Activity Disorders, 17. Toward an Integrated Theory, References, Author Index, Subject Index