Eating Disorders & Mental Illness
Focus on the Family Marriage Podcast
Focus on the Family
4.5 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you or your spouse are dealing with a serious struggle, how can you be honest and get help? David and Krista Dunham share with Jim Daly about how Krista struggled with an eating disorder, and some mistakes they made too. Then, Greg and Erin will give you some ideas for if your spouse is struggling, but isn't seeking the help they need.
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Healing My Life and marriage After an Eating Disorder
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Chat GPT and AI can offer you ideas and attempt to give you answers, but it can't listen with compassion, |
| 0:07.1 | pray with you, or guide you with wisdom shaped by faith. When life feels overwhelming, real human connection matters. |
| 0:14.8 | At Focus on the Family, we believe in the power of professional help and biblical wisdom. |
| 0:20.3 | That's why we offer a free, confidential consultation with a caring Christian counselor |
| 0:25.2 | to walk with you through life struggles. |
| 0:27.9 | Whether you're navigating challenges in marriage, parenting, anxiety, grief, or something |
| 0:33.2 | else, our counselors are here to help. |
| 0:36.0 | If you're hurting, don't wait. Hope is real and healing |
| 0:39.4 | begins with a conversation. Request your free confidential consultation today. Call 1-800-A-family. That's |
| 0:47.8 | 1-800-232-6459 or visit focusonthefamily.com slash get help. That's focus on the family.com |
| 0:58.3 | slash get help. Well, today we're going to be talking about a pretty difficult subject |
| 1:08.6 | that is mental illness and specifically eating disorders. |
| 1:13.2 | And no doubt you or someone that you're friends with or somebody in your family perhaps is going |
| 1:18.4 | through a battle like this. You're going to hear today from a couple who journeyed through those |
| 1:23.0 | struggles. I'm John Fuller in the studio with Dr. Greg Smalley and his wife, Aaron, who lead the Focus on the Family Marriage Team, and we're going to turn to a clip now featuring Focus on the Family President Jim Daly. |
| 1:35.0 | He spoke with Krista and David Dunham. |
| 1:37.4 | And on a previous episode, they mentioned how Krista struggled with an eating disorder in college. |
| 1:43.6 | And David went to their pastor and told him what |
| 1:46.1 | was going on, but he did so without asking Krista. And you know, we concentrate this on a woman or a |
| 1:54.7 | girl. And, you know, I think it disproportionately affects women and girls. But guys, we have a different vocabulary about this. |
| 2:03.4 | You know, we talk about going to the gym and kind of dieting in a different way so we can cut fat to get more muscle tone. |
| 2:11.2 | It's interesting that it, too, is kind of a control issue, but it seems to be maybe a little more acceptable for a guy. |
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