Eating, Drinking, Overthinking: The Toxic Triangle of Food, Alcohol, and Depression--and How Women Can Break Free - Hardcover

Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805077103 ISBN 13: 9780805077100

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co., 2005

Synopsis

From the author of Women Who Think Too Much, a groundbreaking book that uncovers a hidden source of depression in women today
Depression is a common and debilitating problem among women, though it rarely occurs in a vaccum. As Susan Nolen-Hoeksema's original research shows, overthinking--a tendency to ruminate on problems rather than to seek solutions--often co-exists with unhealthy eating habits and/or heavy drinking. In fact, 80 percent of women who report suffering from one of those also suffer from another. This groundbreaking book, written in a vivid narrative style that captures the complexities of women's lives today, explains how the three core problems of the Toxic Triangle reinforce one another, wreaking havoc on women's emotional well-being, physical health, relationships, and careers.
Escape is possible, Nolen-Hoeksema assures us, for those who are already aware that they suffer from a serious problem as well as for the hundreds of thousands of others who have not yet examined the role that bingeing and purging--on negative thoughts, food, or alcohol--plays in their lives. Nolen-Hoeksema shows women how to harness their emotional and interpersonal strengths to overcome the stress caused by a destructive relationship with food, alcohol, and overthinking so that they can fashion effective, healthier strategies for living the life they deserve.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Yale University. She has been conducting research on women's mental health for twenty years. She and her research have been profiled on the Today show, USA Today, and in The New York Times. The former director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan, Nolen-Hoeksema was awarded the Leadership Award and Early Career Award by the American Psychological Association and received an Excellence in Research Award from the University of Michigan. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and young son.

Reviews

Nolen-Hoeksema (Women Who Think Too Much) presents a theory that women who battle eating disorders, alcohol abuse and depression are really suffering from a single disorder for which she has coined the term "toxic triangle." The author claims to be among the first to recognize this (most experts, she says, choose one as the cause of the other two), but doesn't offer anything beyond her own observations as proof that this is true. The book's main strength is its excellent exploration of the impact of all three problems, individually and collectively, on women's lives. Eating disorders, alcohol abuse and depression affect women's relationships, careers, health and put them at risk for assault. Nolen-Hoeksema helps readers make sense of their past experiences and the genetic influences that can also make a difference, perhaps leading to a better understanding of their behavior. But she flounders between writing a clinical dissertation and penning a self-help book meant to guide readers to a solution. She constantly switches voices, speaking directly to the reader at some points and talking about the reader at others. Nolen-Hoeksema makes a provocative argument, but the book's lack of clinical research and cohesive narrative make it a tough sell. (Jan.)
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What Is the Toxic Triangle?

Eating: Forty-five percent of women say they are chronically on a diet, while 32 percent of college-age women say they binge at least twice a month. Disordered eating is a common pattern in women caught in the Toxic Triangle.

Drinking: One in five women suffers from some form of alcohol abuse and more than 13 percent of women engage in binge drinking (five or more drinks in a couple of hours). Many drink to please a man or to ease stress, starting a cycle that affects emotional and physical health.

Overthinking: From a young age, girls are encouraged to develop "self-focused coping" behaviors that result in lifetime patterns of overthinking and depression--one in four women will suffer a severe depressive episode. Often when women begin overthinking, it causes them to smother their feelings in food or drown them in alcohol.

How Can Women Break Free?

"This book gives hope to women, as well as to their families and friends, that freedom from the Toxic Triangle is within our reach . . . Women's emotional and interpersonal sensitivities can be harnessed to create more effective and healthy ways of coping with stress. Eating, Drinking, Overthinking will give you the tools to do this." --From the Prologue

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805077103
• ISBN 13: 9780805077100
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272