Changing the Conversation about EDs

In this episode, we host leading eating disorders specialist Professor Rachel Bachner-Melman, for a discussion of how the Covid-19 pandemic is changing eating disorders treatment, and what people with eating disorders and their relatives can do to cope during this difficult time. (The second part, which deals with coping, starts at 21:00.)

In this episode, we discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic might affect people who live with anxiety, and explore some ways of managing stress in this time of uncertainty.

In this episode, we explore critical moments that prompt the decision to recover from an eating disorder, and the everyday actions that maintain the recovery process.

In this episode, we explore how experiences of obsessive-compulsive disorder link with eating disorders, and discuss how stigma and shame silence stories of obsessions and compulsions.The excerpt from Erin Van Der Meulen's "View from a body: Situating the lived experience of painful obsessions and compulsions" was used with the author's permission.

In this episode, we explore eating disorders in the context of the family, turning our attention to the experiences of parents and siblings, and reflecting on the support they may need.

In this episode, we zoom out from the individual plate to the dinner table, and from the dinner table to the cafe and supermarket, to explore how food, as a social and cultural product, informs and interacts with eating disorders.

In this companion episode, we comment on the conversation we started in “Altruism and Accusations”. We further question the use of the term “pathological”, and begin to consider some alternative and affirmative ways of conceptualising altruism in relation to eating disorders.

In this episode, we discuss the concept of “pathological altruism” with our guest, clinical psychologist Dr Rachel Bachner-Melman. We explore the relevance of this concept for eating disorders, but also question the judgment and medicalisation this concept implicates.

in this episode, we explore events that trigger eating disorders, and discuss how these triggering events may be related to deep-seated questions of identity and belonging.

in this episode, we discuss overlaps between eating disorder experiences, and begin to problematise the boundaries between eating disorder diagnoses.At 17:50 we discuss an important study by Welch et al. (2016). The study is open access - please make sure to check it out: https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-016-0840-7

In this episode, we discuss social attitudes toward pro-ana, and explore why legislation to ban pro-ana content from social media is problematic.*When speaking of Pro Ana Websites, we refer to any of a diverse number of websites created by people with eating disorders for the participation of other people with eating disorders. These websites tend to share some features, such as images of extreme thinness and tips for disordered eating practices, but also support and advice.

In this episode, we explore how eating disorders are represented on television programs and in films, and reflect on the tension between depictions of practices and depictions of experiences.

In this episode, we reflect critically on the stereotypical image of "the anorexic patient" as a young, white, middle-class woman. We also begin to explore the impact that social inequalities have on access to treatment for eating disorders.

In this episode we discuss how anxieties about society and the world might underlie eating disorders, and explore why these anxieties aren't getting as much recognition as fears related to body shape and weight.

In this episode we are discussing eating disorders as a means of expression when one feels her suffering is not being heard, the problem with eating disorders being perceived as visual disorders, and why some voices seem to have more validity than others.

In our introduction episode we tell you our story and what is different about our conversation about eating disorders. We hope you join us in bringing about change!