Field Notes

Literature synthesis, science journalism, interviews, and commentary. Practitioner-facing writing on what the research says, what it misses, and what it means for clinical work.

April 15, 2026 Commentary

The Persona That Eats for You: Rejection Sensitivity, Masking, and the Eating Disorder That Steps In When the Performance Collapses

A neurodivergent group member in eating disorder treatment describes how compulsive rituals developed to protect her from the social punishment she learned to expect for being herself. The clinical question underneath: when the mask is the disorder, what does treatment target?

April 15, 2026 Commentary

The Thing Before the Thing: Emotional Suppression as the Behavior That Makes Gambling Possible

A man in a gambling recovery group identifies emotional suppression, not gambling, as the behavior hardest to control. His account reorders the clinical sequence: the suppression precedes the bet, enables it, and will outlast it unless treatment targets it directly.

April 14, 2026 Commentary

Meekness With a Sword: Anger Suppression, Faith-Based Bypass, and the Eating Disorder That Keeps the Peace

A woman in eating disorder recovery describes months of suppressed anger toward friends who urged her into treatment and then disappeared. Her faith tradition tells her to turn the other cheek. Her body tells her something different. The clinical problem underneath: when spiritual bypassing and emotional suppression share a mechanism with the eating disorder itself.