This episode explores ARFID, or Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, a lesser-known eating disorder that is not driven by body image concerns. Learn how sensory processing, fear responses, and appetite signals in the brain can influence eating behaviors and why ARFID is much more than picky eating.

This episode features an interview with Sam Golden, a neuroscientist at the University of Washington whose research explores how the brain shapes motivation, reward, stress, and behavior. Learn how neuroscience is advancing our understanding of mental health, resilience, and the neural circuits that influence the choices we make every day.

How are eating disorders diagnosed, and why were the DSM-5 criteria updated? This episode explores a research study on eating disorder classification and explains how changes to diagnostic guidelines helped more individuals receive diagnoses that better reflected their symptoms.

Why can anorexia nervosa be so difficult to overcome? This episode explores neuroscience research suggesting that differences in reward learning and habit formation may contribute to the persistence of the illness, offering new insights into how the brain changes throughout recovery.

This episode features an interview with Cynthia Bulik, a leading expert in eating disorder research and treatment. Explore the science behind eating disorders, including genetics, neuroscience, behavior, and emerging research on the gut-brain connection, while examining how these illnesses are far more complex than common misconceptions suggest.

Interested in contributing to eating disorder research? Learn more about the Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative and how to participate here: https://edgi2.org/

This episode explores the neuroscience of bulimia nervosa and how self-control circuits in the brain can become disrupted. Learn why behaviors can feel out of control and how brain-based understanding can support recovery.

This episode explores the Minnesota Starvation Study and how restriction affects the brain and body. Learn how food preoccupation, emotional changes, and eating behaviors can be driven by starvation and why nourishment is key to recovery.

Learn more about the study here: https://psychiatry.duke.edu/blog/starvation-experiment

This episode explores a neuroscience study on brain connectivity in anorexia nervosa based on research by Blair Uniacke and colleagues . Learn how changes in habit circuits and brain networks help explain rigid thinking, repetitive behaviors, and why recovery involves both the body and the brain.

Read more about the study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30590873/