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A Man Devoured by His Body, Food & Work: Survival from Muscle Dysmorphia, Orthorexia, and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
224Overview
IMAGINE…having a "dream" life of family, material affluence, meaningful work, and autonomy, but being miserable and suicidal.
The person with that "dream" life was me, Stuart McRobert. I have a story to tell only because I survived my mental torment, recognized I had a serious problem, sought help, and turned my life around.
For 40-plus years I battled with attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that are commonly labeled as symptoms of three psychological disorders: muscle dysmorphia, orthorexia, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). The consequences were grave.
Mental health seems to be the most important determinant of individual happiness in developed countries.
How this book can help you
This book explains my struggles and self-inquiry, and then describes the five elements of my psychological healing. Each element helped me, but their synergism profoundly improved my mental health, my relationships, my physical health, and my overall life.
If you struggle with your body-image and/or eating, or if perfectionism and/or workaholism affect you, my journey may especially resonate with you. Those issues are common among bodybuilders and other exercise enthusiasts, but they are also common among countless other people.
In response to their psychological struggles, many millions of people seek comfort in smoking, alcohol, overeating, work, or other addictive behaviors. Sooner or later, though, those "comforting" behaviors produce additional difficulties. But singling out those behaviors as "the problems" misses the root causes in each individual, which need to be dealt with in order for healing to take place.
My story explains how I dealt with the root causes of my mental torment.
You have travelled a unique path with a particular background I can never know, but perhaps reading my success story may inspire you to start your own self-inquiry that leads to your own success story.
This book does not have any instruction on bodybuilding or how to train.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9789963616176 |
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Publisher: | CS Publishing LLC |
Publication date: | 01/15/2020 |
Pages: | 224 |
Sales rank: | 788,686 |
Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Foreword 8
Introduction 12
Section 1 The Initial Investigation
Chapter 1 Some preliminaries 18
"How could you have had so-called muscle dysmorphia and orthorexia for 40 years before you realized it?" 19
Some important terminology 20
What's good therapy, and how did it help me? 20
Chapter 2 A brief autobiography 22
Chapter 3 Recognition signs from earlier 28
Self-shame 29
Myth busting 30
Striving for the unattainable 30
Chapter 4 "Muscle dysmorphia" 32
My epiphany 33
What is so-called muscle dysmorphia? 33
Bigorexia: Bodybuilding and Muscle Dysmorphia 34
The Muscular Ideal: Psychological, Social, and Medical Perspectives 35
When does bodybuilding dedication become "muscle dysmorphia"? 37
Proposed triggers of "muscle dysmorphia" 38
"Muscle dysmorphia" and the bodybuilding industry 38
Performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in bodybuilding 39
An illustration of how physical shame is exacerbated 39
An illustration of the destructive effects of bodybuilding drugs 41
Chapter 5 "Orthorexia" 42
What is so-called orthorexia? 43
My own "orthorexia" 45
Chapter 6 Other characteristics that affect me 50
Obsessiveness in general 51
Self-control 51
So-called perfectionism 52
So-called workaholism 54
Taking on challenges 54
Clarification 55
The voice in my head 56
Chapter 7 A "personality disorder" 58
The combined effects of my "symptoms" of three "mental disorders" 61
Endless dissatisfaction 62
My "medication" 62
Suicidal thoughts 63
Chapter 8 My marriage 64
Chapter 9 An introduction to therapy 68
Therapy for "muscle dysmorphia" 69
Therapy for "orthorexia" 70
Therapy for "obsessive-compulsive personality disorder" 72
How I selected my therapist 73
Section 2 Therapy and Healing
Chapter 10 The diary of my personal therapy, Part One 74
Preface 75
How self-shame can be produced by identifying with the burdens of other people 76
Session 1 77
Session 2 78
Session 3 83
Session 4 85
Session 5 86
Session 6 91
My biggest success-that I survived 94
Session 7 95
The biggest paradox of my life 97
Session 8 98
Session 9 99
More on "perfectionism" 101
Solace through solitude 102
Session 10 103
Session 11 104
Session 12 105
Session 13 106
Perspective 107
Session 14 109
Session 15 111
"Imperfectionism" 114
Chapter 11 Shame 116
Chapter 12 The diary of my personal therapy. Part Two 124
Session 16 125
Session 17 126
Session 18 129
Session 19 131
Session 20 134
My therapeutic letter to Khalesi 137
Session 21 141
Session 22 143
My therapeutic letter to Mum and Dad 146
Session 23 148
Chapter 13 September-2015-through-June-2017 summary, Part One 150
My therapy and healing
Chapter 14 September-2015-through-June-2017 summary, Part Two 160
My body and my training, my eating, my work, my marriage, personality-based life management, and a new interest
Chapter 15 July-2017-through-September-2018 update, Part One 166
Books that helped me, the nutritional component, and the effects of severe mental and physical strain
Chapter 16 July-2017-through-September-2018 update, Part Two 172
An alternative approach to effective therapy
Chapter 17 The October-201S-through-December-2018 revelation 178
How I further calmed the voice in my head
Chapter 18 The 2019 leg 190
More sessions with Ms. C, and the results of further self-inquiry
Chapter 19 The wrap-up 204
Chapter 20 The extras 210
More on the teachings of William Glasser and Eckhart Tolle
References 219
Other books by Stuart 220