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[0:00] Ruthie Fierberg: I'm Ruthie Fierberg, and this is Why We Theater.

[0:05] Ruthie Fierberg: The podcast that digs into the onstage works we love to make the off-stage change we need.

[0:12] Ruthie Fierberg: After all, that is Why We Theater.

[0:16] Ruthie Fierberg: Last week, we delved into Domenica Feraud's moving play, Rinse Repeat.

[0:22] Ruthie Fierberg: For those of you who haven't heard the episode yet or didn't see the show, Rinse Repeat centers around Rachel, a college first year struggling with anorexia.

[0:31] Ruthie Fierberg: The play begins as Rachel arrives home for a weekend visit after inpatient treatment for her eating disorder and depicts the struggle with and effects of anorexia on every member of her family, which includes her Latinx attorney mother, her white architect father, and her adopted little brother.

[0:51] Ruthie Fierberg: One of the reasons Domenica wrote this play is because she wasn't seeing stories about eating disorders on stage, and they were rare in other art forms.

[1:00] Ruthie Fierberg: And when she did see something about an eating disorder, the illness felt sensationalized.

[1:06] Ruthie Fierberg: So no surprise that a companion piece to Rinse Repeat is hard to find.

[1:10] Ruthie Fierberg: And yet, I found one.

[1:13] Ruthie Fierberg: For anyone looking to understand eating disorders, specifically anorexia, you must read Harriet Brown's Brave Girl Eating: A Family’s Struggle with Anorexia.

[1:24] Ruthie Fierberg: Brown is a journalist, but in this book, she is a mother first.

[1:28] Ruthie Fierberg: She pens this memoir from a valuable in-between perspective.

[1:33] Ruthie Fierberg: She does not have anorexia.

[1:36] Ruthie Fierberg: She doesn't know firsthand the inner tumult that renders someone to starve themselves.

[1:40] Ruthie Fierberg: But she's also not completely on the outside.

[1:40] Ruthie Fierberg: Because as Dr. Mae Lynn Reyes-Rodriguez told us last week during the episode, anorexia affects the entire family.

[1:50] Ruthie Fierberg: And Brown's daughter has anorexia.

[1:53] Ruthie Fierberg: What David Sheff's Beautiful Boy did for drug addiction, Brave Girl Eating does for anorexia.

[2:00] Ruthie Fierberg: Brown's depictions of her daughter's illness and what she calls her demon coming out render a clear picture of anorexia as the mental illness that it is.

[2:10] Ruthie Fierberg: Her daughter's verbal flagellations, anxiety, sometimes physical outbursts, one might call them episodes, make it impossible to think this disease could be a choice.

[2:22] Ruthie Fierberg: A common misconception.

[2:24] Ruthie Fierberg: As Brown writes, eating disorders affect a person's thinking and cognitive abilities, but only around certain subjects.

[2:33] Ruthie Fierberg: Someone with anorexia suffers under a set of delusion just as powerful as the delusions of a schizophrenic, but only when it comes to food, eating, and body image.

[2:44] Ruthie Fierberg: Harper Collins published the book in 2010, and so much of the world around eating disorders remains the same today.

[2:52] Ruthie Fierberg: Brown interweaves numerous psychological and clinical theories, as well as scientific research with her personal narrative.

[3:00] Ruthie Fierberg: As she quoted, Daniel Lagrange will tell me there's something about anorexia that makes parents and clinicians think in different ways than they would have.

[3:09] Ruthie Fierberg: I don't know what it is about this illness that gets us to think it's not such a bad illness.

[3:14] Ruthie Fierberg: But it is a bad illness.

[3:17] Ruthie Fierberg: It is the most deadly mental health disorder, period.

[3:21] Ruthie Fierberg: Treatment of mental health generally lags behind treatment for physical health, but as Brown points out in the book, a heart surgeon who used outmoded techniques would be barred from the operating room.

[3:33] Ruthie Fierberg: Yet eating disorders therapists cleave to theories from 60 years ago as if they represented the most up-to-date thinking, and they defend their belief with the self-righteous vigor of zealots.

[3:44] Ruthie Fierberg: Still, we have treatment options for other mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, both therapeutic and medicinal.

[3:52] Ruthie Fierberg: But reading Brown's story, it sounds like a whole lot of people guessing what to do with her daughter.

[3:58] Ruthie Fierberg: As Domenica and our other expert, Johanna Kandel said last week, the way we diagnose eating disorders is outdated and wrong.

[4:07] Ruthie Fierberg: The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, of which Johanna is the founder and executive director, works within the medical training system to educate practitioners in accurate diagnostic techniques.

[4:19] Ruthie Fierberg: And as we discussed last week, we need to diagnose more accurately, treat more efficiently, and provide access to care.

[4:26] Ruthie Fierberg: Most insurance plans do not cover treatment for an eating disorder.

[4:30] Ruthie Fierberg: And you can sign up for alerts from the alliance for when legislation is up for review, so you can sign your name to petitions in order to support.

[4:38] Ruthie Fierberg: But the first step to changing the rules is getting us all to understand that eating disorders are a disease and not a disease of choice.

[4:47] Ruthie Fierberg: Brown does an excellent job of balancing commentary on our culture with investigation of her own family.

[4:56] Ruthie Fierberg: Our culture reinforces the narrative that it is a choice because so many people do choose to diet and restrict and try to be thin.

[5:05] Ruthie Fierberg: Our culture does no favors to anyone with anorexia or any other eating disorder.

[5:11] Ruthie Fierberg: So Brown writes I realize how deeply we as a culture have fallen for the notions that food is a regrettable necessity.

[5:20] Ruthie Fierberg: As if the ideal, the holy grail we are all working toward, is to do without food altogether.

[5:26] Ruthie Fierberg: And as if we not only should but could attain the state, were we good enough, determined enough, strong enough, as if that's what we should want.

[5:35] Ruthie Fierberg: Brown's book really does a great job of highlighting the parents' perspective, a mother who is just desperate to figure it out, woven with research, a bigger zoom out of the culture, and a zoom in on her daughter.

[5:51] Ruthie Fierberg: Parts of the book are a little repetitive, but the understanding that I gained and I think you will gain are well worth it.

[6:00] Ruthie Fierberg: I urge you to listen to our discussion from last week if you haven't already.

[6:04] Ruthie Fierberg: You can read the published version of the play, Rinse Repeat.

[6:08] Ruthie Fierberg: The link is in our show notes.

[6:10] Ruthie Fierberg: You can also read Joanna's book, Life Beyond Your Eating Disorders, Reclaim Yourself, Regain Your Health, Recover for Good.

[6:17] Ruthie Fierberg: But I do hope you'll also read Brave Girl Eating.

[6:20] Ruthie Fierberg: Domenica's work crafts a beautiful portrayal of someone struggling with anorexia and a mother struggling with her own more subtle eating disorder.

[6:28] Ruthie Fierberg: But the focus truly is on Rachel.

[6:31] Ruthie Fierberg: And when we see inner thoughts, we see hers.

[6:34] Ruthie Fierberg: As a companion piece, Brave Girl Eating comes from a more common perspective, the outsider.

[6:40] Ruthie Fierberg: If you know someone who struggles with an eating disorder, this is a must read.

[6:45] Ruthie Fierberg: If you simply want to understand what it looks like and sounds like, if you constantly say to yourself, I don't get it, I don't understand how someone could starve themselves.

[6:56] Ruthie Fierberg: This is the book to help you get it.

[7:00] Ruthie Fierberg: After all, that is Why We Theater.

[7:08] Ruthie Fierberg: Why We Theater is a product of the Broadway Podcast Network.

[7:12] Ruthie Fierberg: It's edited and mixed by Derek Gunther.

[7:15] Ruthie Fierberg: If you like the show, subscribe at bpn.fm slash WWT or Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[7:24] Ruthie Fierberg: And don't forget to leave a review and tell your friends.

[7:27] Ruthie Fierberg: Our theme music is by Benjamin Velez.

[7:27] Ruthie Fierberg: Why We Theater is recorded in part on the traditional lands of the Wapinger and Lenape peoples.

[7:36] Ruthie Fierberg: I acknowledge this land was unjustly taken from them and pay my respect to elders both past and present.

[7:43] Ruthie Fierberg: Special thanks to Dori Berinstein, Alan Seales, Leigh Silverman, Patrick Taylor, Tony Montaneri, Wesley Birdsall, Elena Mayer, and Suzanne Chipkin.

[7:53] Ruthie Fierberg: For more resources for change, info about our guests, and more, visit us at WhyWeTheater.com.