European Eating Disorders ReviewEur. Eat. Disorders Rev. 14, 66 (2006)

Book ReviewJean Petrucelli and Catherine Stuart (Eds.) (2001)Hungers and Compulsions The Psychodynamic Treatment of EatingDisorders & AddictionsJason Aronson Inc.: London, £38.00 (hardback), pp. 392,ISBN 0-765-70318-1

I was initially reluctant to feel that I had to link eating dis-orders and addictions together as I was not sure myself ifthis was a coupling that fitted for me. However the open-ing chapter of this book reallywhettedmy appetite to readon and expand my thinking on how these disorders couldprovide a solution to the individual’s management of dif-ficult internal states. I would suggest that the book is writ-ten with an understanding that the reader has at least abasic grasp of the fundamental and somewhat complextheories of psychodynamic psychotherapy as these con-cepts are not readily defined. This book will appeal notonly to those of uswho have an interest in eating disordersand/or addictions but also to therapists who want to gainan insight into the patient/therapist relationship and it’sinherent challenges from a psychodynamic perspective.Joyce McDougall provides the reader with a psychody-

namic understanding of the symptoms presented, which Ifelt set the tone of the book. Each subsequent chapterexpands on core psychodynamic concepts in a very crea-tive manner, illustrated richly by vignettes that really dogive the reader an increased understanding of the varyingdynamics arising in therapy. The chapters are written bydifferent authors, each of whom brings their own indivi-dual understanding to the process of therapy and yet thereremains aflowto thebookas awhole that formemaintaineda desire to read onwith confidence that each area would berelevant to my own clinical work of psychotherapy.Areas including dissociation, self-regulation, motiva-

tion and body image in relation to eating disorders areexplored, in a way that very much includes the therapistin the treatment, not just in a countertransferential waybut also acknowledging the therapists own journeywithinthe process.

The issue of becoming ‘stuck’ in therapy, which I amsure we have all struggled with at times, is given a wholesectionwhich felt as if it left the reader feeling hopeful thatresolution is possible once the impasse can be understood,known and owned by both patient and therapist.The second half of the book looks at symptom specific

treatmentmodalities for those patientswho have addictedsubstance usage or behaviours. It highlights the link withdepression, creativity and the excitement of taking risksand how the desire for these elements should be recog-nised in therapy. (These do not seem too far removed fromthe area of eating disorders either).The final section of the book is described as being four

interconnected papers focusing onWinnicott and his rela-tionship with Masud Khan, whose addiction was hisdownfall. The treatment process described aims to discussthe hate and destruction experienced within therapy andhow it should be acknowledged and interpreted to enablethe successful engagement of the patient.To sumup Iwould like to use thewords of Petrucelli and

Stuart in their introduction to the book as I could not pro-fess to find a better description:

‘If there is a single thread that dominates the analyticexperience, as evidenced by the thought provokingpapers in this anthology, it may be each therapist’srecognition that successful therapy is amutual process,not simply the patient who must struggle toward self-knowledge and growth in the course of treatment butthe therapist as well’.

—Kim Moore

Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/erv.683