Beyond Dieting : Psychoeducational Interventions for Chronically Obese Women

"This is not a diet program," is the proclamation made at the beginning of the information session of the 12-week program designed by the author, In Beyond Dieting, Donna Ciliska takes the emphasis off dieting and places it instead on positive self-esteem and body image. Obese women often find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of dieting and losing weight only to regain it while self-esteem plummets. The cultural drive for thinness is a powerful force. For chronically obese women, it can be dangerous both psychologically and physically. This book opens with an overview of dieting and its relationship to self-esteem and body image. Here, the author explores the negative and destructive side effects frequently experienced by obese women as a result of dieting. Alternative interventions to dieting are then explored and the weekly Beyond Dieting program, the core of this volume, is introduced. Subsequent chapters present an evaluation of the Beyond Dieting program (purpose, analyses, comparisons, and variables of outcome) and a discussion of the characteristics of the sample study. The overall effects of the intervention and implications of the findings provide an illuminating perspective on the treatment of obesity one that suggests striving for positive self-image rather than thinness as the key to well-being for obese women. For the many health practitioners caring for obese women, this perspective, with its practical application, will prove to be an invaluable resource. Ms. Ciliska's groundbreaking book takes obese women and those who counsel them on a journey, the destination of which is body satisfaction, healthy eating patterns for day-to-day living, and a life without dieting. Ultimately, it is hoped that the full range of body types will be accepted worth in terms of an elusive "ideal." Book jacket.