Biology & Behavior
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Alex grew up seeing poker and gambling as his connection to adulthood. After moving to Las Vegas to make a career out of it, his addiction took complete control of his life. Not only has he lost everything, but now has loan sharks searching for him. -
Amrita has never had a particularly high opinion of herself and she recalls feeling great shame when she was younger by things like snacking or indulging. She struggles with recurring sadness and low mood. -
Bobby was a tough little kid. He had to be. His father was a violent drunk and liked to come after him. He got even by poisoning his father?s dog. He started boosting cars before he was fifteen. He?s been in and out of jail--since then. He considers himself a sharp guy; he knows how to find the angles. -
Fiona?s a normal suburban teenage girl, but she can't seem to control her appetite. Periodically, she has a need to gorge herself on so much food that it hurts and then depresses her. She feels helpless to stop. -
Kristen is feeling very depressed. Her husband has been experiencing a prolonged period of anxiety, her son has Autism Spectrum Disorder, and she has just been diagnosed with Huntington?s Disease. -
Natalie is struck by how thin and beautiful the other girls at her college are. Now she?s doing everything she can to lose weight; starving herself, excessively exercising, using laxatives and diuretics, and avoiding situations and locations where she may be enticed to eat. Though she is quite thin, she sees herself as very fat. -
Neal has been developing an unhealthy obsession with germs and cleanliness since he was a young man. He fixates on everything he eats and the areas that he inhabits for so long that he doesn?t have much of a personality or life outside of his fight to limit his exposure. -
Terry is now 13 years old but has been stuttering since he first learned to talk. He's endured endless teasing at school but is beginning to find the resources to overcome his disorder. But his father's alcoholism and constant disappointment in him are making it all the harder for him to overcome it. -
Tracy was always part of the ?popular? girls. But her jealousy over how thin she perceives her friends to be has caused her to go to extreme measures for controlling her weight, including throwing up after big meals and exercising to the point of exhaustion.
