Unrestricted: How I Stepped Off the Tightrope, Learned to Say No, and Silenced Anorexia
Grand Prize Winner (3rd) in Non-Fiction and Women's Issues Category Winner (1st): 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
In Unrestricted, Dawn Brockett challenges the pervasive belief that anorexia is compelled by a desire to control. Having battled and beaten severe restrictive anorexia herself, she proposes that anorexia is triggered by a lack of the space a young woman needs to fully individuate- to become who she chooses to be without being controlled by others.
Given how long treatment paradigms have held firm to this belief about control-and the limited progress we've made in treating anorexia, the deadliest of all mental health disorders-she issues a call to action to change the way anorexia and anorectics are viewed and treated through the lens of her own successful battle against the disorder.
The anorectic is not compelled by a desire to control the world or to be thin. She is compelled to disappear, shrinking to the space that she feels she is allowed to take up in her life, the size of which is dictated by others' demands and expectations.
At once heart-wrenching, heartwarming, and hopeful, this is the story of how one woman stopped disappearing, started listening to her own voice, and finally claimed her rightful place in the world.
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"Unrestricted is an inspiring narrative of Dawn Brockett's fight against anorexia nervosa and a compelling chronicle of recovery. For anyone who loves someone struggling with an eating disorder, this book will shine a light on both the ferocity of the disorder and what it takes to triumph."
- Thomas R. Insel, MD, Former Director, National Institute of Mental Health (2002-2015); Author, Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health
"In her deeply personal and profound book, Unrestricted, Dawn Brockett presents a truly revolutionary perspective on discovering your own voice and path toward self-empowerment."
- Amy Cuddy, PhD, Social Psychologist and Author of the New York Times Bestseller Presence
"A powerful call to action for the field to modernize the perception and treatment of anorexia which impacts more than 80 million women worldwide and carries the highest mortality rate of any mental illness."
- P. Murali Doraiswamy, MBBS, FRCP, Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine, Duke University and Former Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Mental Health
"This is a work of art that is inspiring, insightful and stays with you. No matter why you might be interested in this subject, having read this book you will walk away glad that life put this book in your path."
Amir Kalali, MD, Founder and Chairman, CNS Summit
"Dawn's humanity and courage burst through in a brilliant flash of light. Her journey will provide strength and inspiration for all who read this intensely personal and beautifully written book."
- David Hume Kennerly, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer
"Dawn's story is immediately both heartbreaking and a force of the written word. Make no mistake, this is a page turner. And a very personal one at that. In Unrestricted, Dawn Brockett takes the art of the memoir to new heights."
- Gavin Baker, Founder and Executive Chef, The Mist Project
