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The birth of venud eroticismglobal pandemic has been hard on everyone — but for people with pre-existing mental health conditions, social distancing can be an isolating, triggering, and even dangerousexperience. When it comes to coping with eating disorders while obeying stay-at-home restrictions, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) says maintaining community is key.

That's where Binge: How to Lose Weight in the Apocalypsecomes in.

The YouTube web series, written and created by star Angela Gulner and director Yuri Baranovsky, tells the semi-autobiographical story of a Los Angeles baker (also named Angela) who struggles with disordered eating, alcohol dependency, and instantly apparent narcissism. When the COVID-19 crisis forces our already vulnerable protagonist into indefinite solitude, she begins a painful, relatable, and surprisingly hilarious journey of self-discovery that couldn't be more of the moment if it tried.

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"People who are struggling with eating disorders already feel isolated."

Produced by Baranovsky's Happy Little Guillotine Studios, Binge began as a pilot episodein 2017 based on Gulner's decade-long battle with bulimia. The single episode was intended to serve as a proof-of-concept to major studios interested in producing the project on a larger scale. But when Binge wasn't getting picked up like Baranovsky and Gulner had hoped, they decided to post their work on YouTube. Today, the pilot has 1.6 million views and a dedicated following of fans — many of whom are stuck at home just like Angela.

"People who are struggling with eating disorders, they already feel isolated and to be literally, physically isolated is so, so difficult,” Baranovsky tells Mashable over the phone. “We just wanted to bring a little joy to people and tell a story, so they see like, ‘Hey, I’m not alone. There are plenty of people like me going through this.’”

Though Gulner and Baranovsky didn't originally have plans to bring Bingeback as a web series, instead planning to turn it into a feature-length film with the $45,000 raised by their fans through crowdfunding in 2018, the pandemic presented a unique opportunity to consider how these two issues would collide.

Coordinating the script via text, designing shots over video chat, and using everything (and everyone) at their disposal during filming, Baranovsky, Gulner, and the rest of the Binge team came together to make three socially distanced episodes worthy of the important subject matter. Before long, the writers had thirty pages of material. They debuted the first episode of Binge: How to Lose Weight in the Apocalypse on May 15.

Like numerous network reunion specials, How to Lose Weight in the Apocalypse employs video chats to convey much of its narrative. But to capture the markedly personal nature of disordered eating, the team had to find other, more inventive ways of getting their message across. In Part 2, Angela drops her phone underneath her bed. Over the coming days, the lurking lens captures the high highs and low lows that come with being alone and in pain.

"I got a master's degree with raging bulimia. I had relationships, I had friendships, I had a life."

"I'm particularly proud of that one — I almost wish we'd saved it for the third episode," Baranovsky jokes. "We really just leaned into our circumstances. We tried not to think of [social distancing] as obtrusive or as a thing standing in our way, but as a mode to tell the best story within this world. "

The style makes for a blisteringly authentic watch that is at once agonizing, and for some viewers, tremendously validating. Peruse the YouTube comments and you'll see dozens of fans describing the impact Angela's fictional experience is having on their real-life coping.

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"With a lot of content we've seen before with eating disorders, they're often portrayed as the one defining characteristic of the person that has [them] — like they have no personality or life outside of their eating disorder," Gulner explains to Mashable, on a three-way call with Baranovsky. "And that's just so radically false for most people. I got a master's degree with raging bulimia. I had relationships, I had friendships, I had a life."

For the very real, complex people managing disordered eating as well as coronavirus stressors, seeing another person, even a fictional person, face those same obstacles can be comforting. Giving those same people a reason to laugh is a bonus Gulner says she's benefiting from as well.

SEE ALSO: TV cops know their job is changing. Some are more ready than others.

"For better or for worse, I can't process things without comedy," Gulner says, emphasizing the importance laughter has played in her ability to weather 2020. "Like a lot of people, I have trouble being completely vulnerable without adding a joke." Gulner's personal experiences make her uniquely qualified to do that thoughtfully and responsibly.

Still, it's important to Gulner that the support her show provides viewers doesn't stop when the credits roll and the laughter ends. Since launching How to Lose Weight in the Apocalypse on YouTube, Gulner has begun hosting Sunday live streams where she reads viewer messages and provides her thoughts to anyone looking for a quarantine buddy. Typically, 40 or so fans show up to chat — about the pandemic, about recovery, about anything really. (You can see the recorded sessions on Happy Little Guillotine Studios' YouTube page.)

"It's really, really important to stay connected to your support system."

"I remind people again, again, and again that I'm not a therapist, I'm not a nutritionist, and all I'm speaking from is my experience," Gulner notes. "But I think it's still helpful. I've been turned on to a bunch of different support groups and things like that, so it's nice to be able to say, 'Don't let the support stop here. Go and check out these other things.' Plus, a lot of the people who tune in will talk with each other and share support amongst each other which is really nice."

NEDA CEO Claire Mysko tells Mashable much of the recovery process for people with eating disorders centers on "making connection and building community." Over the course of the pandemic, NEDA's chat support line has seen a 75% increase in traffic volume as people everywhere have sought friendship and guidance while social distancing.

"It's really, really important to stay connected to your support system," Mysko says. "Whether that's family, friends, or for people who are in treatment, their treatment team." By organizing video calls, often at meal times, Mysko says people struggling to avoid unwanted behaviors around food can slow themselves down and talk out the feelings they're having more calmly.

SEE ALSO: Joking about weight during social distancing isn't helpful for eating disorder recovery

How to Lose Weight in the Apocalypse has provided a platform that's made those connections easier to achieve for many. In reacting to news events quickly and believably, Baranovsky and Gulner's series has created a safe haven for individuals struggling to process the current global crisis. In a series of promos for Part 3, out Monday, June 29 and aptly titled "The Exes," Angela calls past boyfriends and girlfriends to discuss everything from Black Lives Matter protests to the pressure to achieve personal goals while in isolation.

When asked what Gulner hopes comes from the show, her answer is twofold.

"I hope [the audience is] taking laughter, first and foremost, a sense of community, and the feeling that whatever pain is present now won't be there forever. And going forward, for us as creators, I would love for one of these networks to see what the limitations are within COVID, see what we've done, and say, 'Hey, maybe we do have a slot for you guys.' That would be the dream."

As the coronavirus continues to upend plans and expectations, the thought that something good, like essential on-screen representation, might come out this crisis is particularly heartwarming. With big dreams for the series they still want, Baranovsky and Gulner are looking to the uncertain future with immense optimism. "People desperately want this kind of story to be told," Baranovsky says. "Somebody just needs to take a chance on it."

The third and final episode of Binge: How to the Lose Weight in the Apocalypse hits YouTube June 29 at 9 a.m. PT.

If you feel like you’d like to talk to someone about your eating behavior, call the National Eating Disorder Association’s helpline at 800-931-2237. You can also text “NEDA” to 741-741 to be connected with a trained volunteer at the Crisis Text Lineor visit the nonprofit’s websitefor more information.

Topics COVID-19