Introduction to Grace Under Pressure

Those suffering from anorexia nervosa often dismiss the imperative of life and exalt the control they gain from not eating. Consequently, the mortality rate associated with anorexia is 12 times higher than the death rate associated with all other causes of death for females 15 to 24 years old. While anorexia can affect men and women of any age, race, or cultural background, it occurs 10 times more in females than in males. Twenty-five percent of college-aged women engage in bingeing and purging as a weight-management technique.

In Grace Under Pressure, Andrea Rosenhaft tells us about her inner life experience at the center of a strenuous and dramatic struggle with a dangerous illness. With courageous personal reflection, she experientially details the anorexia disorder that is characterized by self-punitive addiction to fasting, fear of gaining weight, and distorted body perception. She speaks honestly and insightfully about the emotions related to her body and to her sense of herself. We can easily empathize with her struggles and admire her drives for survival and self-actualization.

In her own words, Rosenhaft describes the motive for writing about her struggle.

“After working through an issue in therapy, the process of writing about it—from onset through recovery—solidifies it for me and helps me put the whole experience away in a metaphorical file cabinet. There, it feels as though I have placed it in the past, but should the symptoms resurface, I have access to how I successfully dealt with them, and to an inspiration to fight back once more.

Secondly, and more importantly, I write so others who suffer from the same illness don't have to feel as alone as I did. The stigma of mental illness is well-known, and by writing about it—as honestly as I do—I believe I give a voice to many. Since I wrote Grace Under Pressure, there has been a great deal of media coverage about the rise of eating disorders in women in mid-life. If I can inspire someone to seek help, convi