Eating disorders: do they mark cultural transition?

Eating disorders that were once viewed as exclusive to specific class and ethnic boundaries in western culture are now spreading worldwide. This issue is fully discussed in this groundbreaking volume.

Eating Disorders and Cultures in Transition is written by an international group of authors to address the recent emergence of eating disorders in various areas of the world including countries in South America, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. It offers an in-depth analysis of the existing socio-cultural model arguing for the need to extend both our theoretical understanding and clinical work to account properly for this global phenomenon. Eating disorders are seen as reflecting sweeping changes in the social and political status of women in the majority of societies that are now undergoing rapid cultural transition.

This multidisciplinary, multinational volume reflects wide-ranging, intellectually stimulating and frequently provocative viewpoints. It promises to be of great interest to medical and mental health professionals, public policy experts and all those watching for the processes of cultural transformation and their impact on mental health.

About the Author
Mervat Nasser, Melanie Katzman, Richard Gordon

Reviews

'This book offers an appreciation of the complexity of the forces that shape human behaviour, and influence the constructs we hold regarding health and pathology.' - Sunita Stewart, PhD, Director of Cross-Cultural Research, Bob Smith MD Centre for Research in Pediatric Psychiatry, UT Southwestern Medical Centre at Dallas, USA

'This book is a milestone as it is the first to open a dialectical debate.' - Professor Janet Treasure, Guys Kings and Thomas Medical School, UK

'Moves beyond the safe harbour of cataloguing scientific evidence from the perspective of only one discipline and invites the reader to imagine new paradigms and research methods.' - Ruth Striegel-Moore, Professor of Psychology, Weslyn University, USA

Book Information
ISBN 9780415228602
Author Mervat Nasser
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 410g