Personality Disorders and Eating Disorders: Exploring the Frontier

Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting a multifaceted relationship between personality disorders and eating disorders, few attempts have been made to explore the interface between these two areas in a cogent synthesis with prevalence, etiology, and treatment approach with respect to both conditions. Sansone & Levitt propose to explore and define this relationship, with a single-volume of contributions on the intersection between the two fields. This work includes chapter contributions from authors both in the eating-disorder field and personality-disorder field, with a clinical focus, in a readable format. Divided into seven sections, the work begins with conceptualization of personality disorders, and then moves into an exploration of epidemiology and of etiology. The fourth section focuses on assessment in both fields, and the fifth section provides an overview of specific personality disorders. The sixth section discusses treatment approaches, and the volume closes with the prognosticimplications of comorbid personality disorders in eating disorders. Topics include such topical issues as genetics, drug abuse, and childhood trauma, as they relate to both fields and as they affect the relationship between the two forms of disorders. This volume provides stronger assessment and treatment of individuals suffering from personality disorders and eating disorders and enhances the understanding of both fields while establishing a foundation for discussing each as they interface with one another.