Book ~ "Food and Loathing" (2003) Betsy Lerner

From Amazon.com ~ Lerner reveals her lifelong struggle with compulsive eating and mental illness. She joined Overeaters Anonymous at age 15 and rigorously adopted the 12-step program. A year later, she was prescribed lithium, though side effects soon forced her to quit the drug. Unmedicated and with an insensitive therapist, Lerner began her inevitable descent. While enrolled in the M.F.A. program at Columbia University, she came close to committing suicide, and this desperate act led to her voluntary admittance to the psych ward at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Her experience there and at the New York State Psychiatric Institute is the heart of this book.

I had heard some good things about this book so was looking forward to reading it. It's a good story ~ very honest about the author's battle with her weight and manic depression. I found it depressing at times but an interesting read.