Eating Disorders, What We Knew Before and What We Know Now, with Alexandra Paul

Alexandra Paul wasn’t allowed sugar as a kid but she snuck it anyway, not for the taste but for the comfort it provided. As a teen, Alexandra’s modeling and acting careers were going great. Her relationship with food, on the other hand, had become a real mess. At boarding school, it seemed right and normal to deny herself food in order to be as skinny as possible. The other girls were doing it and no one ever talked about it as a disorder. Over time, as she moved into modeling in New York City and acting in Hollywood, the anorexia turned to bulimia and she got hooked on the ritual of bingeing and purging. She’s stayed away from that behavior for the last 30 years but still feels like she could slip back if she’s not careful.

Dr. Jillian Lampert, who also dealt with eating disorders herself as a young person, is the Chief Strategy Officer for the Emily Project, an organization that treats and studies eating disorders. She says there’s a lot of recent research indicating that genetics are much more responsible for who will develop eating disorders of all kinds than we previously thought. 

Alexandra Paul personal site 

Alexandra Paul IMDb page

Alexandra Paul Wikipedia

Alexandra Paul on Twitter - @alexandra_paul

The Emily Program - https://www.emilyprogram.com/

Dr. Jillian Lampert - https://www.emilyprogram.com/about-us/leadership-team/jillian-lampert/
Reward sensitivity article: https://jeatdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40337-017-0138-2
Sensation and emotion study in progress: http://eatingdisorders.ucsd.edu/research/our-research.html
Sensation study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3955712/
Another sensation study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7230430/
Bodily sensations study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29483865/
Sensation study looking particularly at disgust: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6759364/
Broader study on interoceptive awareness (awareness of body cues): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7927286/
Genetics and neurobiology: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21243469/

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun. 

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

The Depresh Mode newsletter is available twice a week. Subscribe for free and stay up to date on the show and mental health issues. https://johnmoe.substack.com/

John's acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is available here. https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-hilarious-world-of-depression/

Find the show on Twitter @depreshpod and Instagram @depreshpod.

John is on Twitter @johnmoe.