Personality Disorders and Eating Disorders

Personality Disorders and Eating Disorders explores and defines the multifaceted relationship between these two fields in a cogent synthesis of prevalence, etiology, and treatment. The book brings together leading specialists in both fields, with a clinical focus on such topical issues as genetics, drug abuse, and childhood trauma-as they relate to each field and as they affect the relationship between the two disorders. Therapists who treat eating disorders will find the material on treatment approaches especially helpful in formulating interventions with particularly difficult patients. Therapists who work with patients with personality disorders will find that the interface between personality and eating disorders is relevant to various aspects of self-destructive behavior observed in these individuals. This unique book enhances the assessment and treatment of individuals suffering from personality disorders and eating disorders, and it augments the understanding of both populations, while establishing a foundation for discussing each as they interface with one another.

Randy A. Sansone, M.D. is a professor at the Wright State University School of Medicine and Director of Psychiatry at Kettering Medical Center in Kettering, OH. A Charter Member of the Academy for Eating Disorders, Dr. Sansone has served a term as Chair of the Nominating Committee. In 2000, he was made a Fellow of the prestigious American Psychiatric Association, to which he has belonged since 1980. John L. Levitt, Ph.D. is Director of the Eating Disorders and Violence and Abuse Programs at Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital in Hoffman Estates, IL. Among the many professional organizations to which he belongs, Dr. Levitt has served as a Charter Member of the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (IAEDP), a Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), and a board member of the National Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD).

About the Editors. Contributors. The Lost Years. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Personality Conceptualization. Jovev and Jackson, Personality Disorder Constructs and Conceptualizations. Epidemiology. Sansone, Levitt, and Sansone, The Prevalence of Personality Disorders in Those with Eating Disorders. Etiology. Favaro and Santonastaso, Impulsivity Versus Compulsivity in Eating Disorder Patients. Sansone and Sansone, Childhood Trauma, Personality Disorders, and Eating Disorders. Assessment. Stepp, Schwartz, Solhan and Trull, Clinical Assessment of Personality Disorders. Vitousek and Stumpf, Difficulties in the Assessment of Personality Traits and Disorders in Eating-Disordered Individuals. Personality Disorders Most Relevant to Eating Disorders. Parikh and Halmi, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality and Eating Disorders. Sansone and Levitt, Borderline Personality and Eating Disorders. Levitt and Sansone, Avoidant Personality Disorder and Eating Disorders. Treatment Approaches. Russell, Treatment Strategies in the Obsessive-Compulsive Individual with an Eating Disorder. Levitt, A Self-Regulation Treatment Approach for the Eating Disordered Patient with Borderline Personality Disorder. Sansone and Sansone, Borderline Personality and Eating Disorders: An Eclectic Approach to Treatment. Hinrichsen and Waller, The Treatment of Avoidant Personality Disorder in Patients with Eating Disorders. Sansone and Sansone, The Use of Psychotropic Medications in Eating Disorder Patients with Personality Disorders. Outcome. Bruce and Steiger, Prognostic Implications of Personality Disorders in Eating Disorders.