Episode 014

Title: Voices of Hope: Untangling OCD and Anorexia (with Kyle King)

This episode is part of our Voices of Hope series. In these conversations, you'll hear from individuals who have walked through an eating disorder and come out on the other side. Our intention is to highlight that recovery is possible, relationships can survive, and even during the most challenging moments, hope is real.

In this episode, Jenni Gaines and Laura Cohen sit down with Kyle King, a second-year medical student at Yale and mental health advocate with lived experience of both OCD and anorexia nervosa. Kyle shares his journey from an OCD diagnosis at 12 to an eating disorder at 17, the ways anorexia drove him to lie to the people closest to him, what it was like to relapse in college and hide it from his parents, and how family-based treatment ultimately saved his life. He also offers a rare inside look at how OCD and eating disorders interact, why being male shaped his experience, and why he now dedicates his advocacy work to supporting caregivers.

00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer

01:22 Guest Introduction: Kyle King

02:34 Kyle's Lived Experience: From OCD to Anorexia

05:47 When ERP Didn't Work: The Limits of OCD-Only Treatment

07:15 Family-Based Treatment and Starting to Recover

08:06 The Lying Piece: What Parents Need to Know

09:30 Relapse in College: Fabricating Weights and Hiding

13:13 How Being Male Impacted the Eating Disorder Experience

17:09 Lying to Therapists and the Role of Pride

19:31 Why Kyle Fabricated His Weight: It Wasn't for Himself

21:05 How OCD and an Eating Disorder Interact

24:26 Should OCD and Eating Disorders Be Classified Differently?

28:06 Temperament, Brain Circuitry, and Environment

29:15 What Parents Did That Helped Most

32:40 How an Eating Disorder Affects the Whole Family

37:02 OCD Unfiltered: A Program Built for Parents

41:08 Why Kyle Shifted His Focus to Caregivers

44:06 The Power of Parental Vulnerability

46:51 From Lived Experience to Psychiatry

49:41 Hopes for the Future of Eating Disorder Treatment

SUPPORT & RESOURCES

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FEAST website:

https://feast-ed.org/

FEAST flyer:

https://feast-ed.org/programs-and-services/

Guest Bio:

Kyle King is a second-year medical student at Yale School of Medicine. More central to his identity, however, Kyle is a mental health advocate with lived experience of OCD and anorexia nervosa. He serves as a National Advocate with the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF), is the founder and co-leader of the IOCDF's Young Adult Special Interest Group, and hosts the IOCDF Research Roundtable. In addition, Kyle works as a research assistant in the Yale OCD Clinic and is a frequent speaker at OCD conferences across the country. His primary interests include investigating novel treatments for psychiatric conditions, addressing inequities in access to mental health care, and exploring the complex overlaps between OCD and related conditions such as eating disorders.