Big Ideas In Eating Disorders

Dr. Michael J. Devlin

Dr. Michael J. Devlin is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and where he is also a member of the Eating Disorders Research Unit at New York State Psychiatric Institute. He has served as President of the Academy for Eating Disorders and was a pioneer in the development of behavioral treatments for individuals with Binge Eating Disorder. In this episode, Dr. Devlin urges us to focus on the implications of the language we use, recognizing that our language shapes how we think, feel, and even how we behave – sometimes with good effect, but sometimes to very serious negative effect. He shares his personal experience as a gay man and his professional experience as a clinician and researcher with patients as he poignantly articulates the benefits for many people when Binge Eating Disorder was recognized as a real condition, the toxic effects of the term obesity, and the ominous risks associated with the term “terminal anorexia.” He eloquently reminds us to be curious, and to pay attention to how language has the potential to harm and heal.

Dr. Glenn Waller

Dr. Glenn Waller is a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Sheffield, UK. He is a past-president of the Academy for Eating Disorders, and is currently president of the Eating Disorders Research Society. Dr. Waller has decades of experience as a clinical researcher evaluating and evolving cognitive behavioral treatments for individuals with eating disorders. In this episode, he challenges therapists to refrain from adopting what Paul Meehl called the “spun glass theory of mind” when treating patients. Instead he urges us to develop true therapeutic alliances that are not only compassionate, but also, brave. This episode is filled with clinical wisdom not to be missed.

Dr. Hans Hoek

Dr. Hans Hoek is clinical psychiatrist at the Eating Disorders Program in the Hague and Professor of Psychiatry at University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He also holds a faculty appointment at Columbia University in New York City. For many years, Dr. Hoek served as director of the psychiatric residency program and dean of Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, The Hague, a large mental health institute with branches across the Netherlands. He has conducted pioneering work on the epidemiology of eating disorders and has a particular interest in cultural psychiatry. In this episode of Big Ideas in Eating Disorders, Dr. Hoek shares his views on the complex and nuanced interplay of biology and environment associated with risk for developing an eating disorder.

Dr. Marsha Marcus

Dr. Marsha Marcus, Professor Emerita at The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, has devoted a significant part of her career to the study of binge eating and the development of treatments for people with binge eating disorder. She started out with a focus on obesity treatment. During the course of her work, she noticed that a significant percentage of people seeking weight-loss treatment also described patterns of binge eating that contributed significantly to their health concerns and their distress. This observation catalyzed decades of clinical practice and research straddling the worlds of obesity and eating disorders. In this episode, Dr. Marcus describes her pioneering work and raises serious concerns about the ways in which science and advocacy are often conflated in the “Health at Any Size Movement” – to the detriment of the people who scientists, clinicians and advocates all want to serve.

Dr. Eva Trujillo

Dr. Eva Trujillo is the founder and executive director of Comenzar de Nuevo, a nonprofit organization recognized throughout Latin America that supports the prevention, teaching, research, advocacy, and treatment of eating disorders at all levels of care. Dr. Trujillo’s treatment program receives an average of 400 first-time patients annually from 11 countries and 27 states of Mexico and serves as a model for other Latin American countries. In this episode, Dr. Trujillo speaks from experience and challenges some standard assumptions about how best to disseminate evidence-based therapies in diverse cultural contexts.

Donna Friedman

Donna Friedman, M.S., is the founder of the Friedman Center for Eating Disorders at the Medical University of South Carolina. Ms. Friedman has personal lived experience with eating disorders, as both someone who has had anorexia nervosa and a parent of a son with an eating disorder. In this episode, Ms. Friedman reflects on her personal and professional journey of treatment and recovery. Donna talks with Kathy about her varied experiences with treatment, the neuroscience of eating disorders, and how connection was key to real recovery. Donna reflects on how her personal journey informs her work as a therapist and how she prioritizes real connection in the therapy process with her patients.

Dr. Craig Johnson

Dr. Craig Johnson is the Senior Clinical Advisor at the Eating Recover Center in Denver, Colorado and the Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma Medical School. Dr. Johnson talks about how his academic career in psychology led him to the field of eating disorders and how his study in schizophrenia was the foundation to his early understanding of the field. They discuss the road and bridges that were essential to building the field of eating disorders, the importance of asking the right questions, the beginnings of the International Journal of Eating Disorders and the appreciation for the biopsychosocial model.

Dr. Paul Garfinkel

Dr. Paul Garfinkel is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and a Staff Psychiatrist at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Dr. Garfinkel talks about how he got into medicine, psychiatry and then into eating disorders. They discuss the influences Hilde Bruch and Herb Weiner had on Dr. Garfinkel, prioritizing prevention strategies and messages about authenticity and not running away from hard things.

Dr. Stewart Agras

Dr. Stewart Agras is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, research psychiatrist and Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stanford University. Dr. Agras gives the backstory on how he began studying Agoraphobia and how that eventually led into the field of eating disorders. They discuss Dr. Agras’ experiences studying medicine in England right after war, measuring behavior change and his big idea of making treatment better.

Dr. Ruth Weissman

Dr. Ruth Weissman is the Walter A. Crowell Professor of Social Science and professor of psychology emerita at Wesleyan University and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Dr. Weissman shares how she got her start researching eating and weight disorders at a psychophysiology lab at Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry in Munich, Germany. Dr. Weissman highlights the work she did with Drs. Judith Rodin and Lisa Silberstein at Yale University as they developed their psychosocial model for eating disorders. Years in the making, Dr. Weissman’s big idea in eating disorders led to groundbreaking work on the economic burden of eating disorders.