Males and Eating Disorders
Eating disorders have been around for many years and were typically viewed as a female issue. Not anymore. Today, anorexia, bulimia, and especially binge-eating disorder, are on the rise in the male population. Anorexia is now diagnosed in boys as young as eight and a full 40% of those with binge-eating disorders are male.
Several factors contribute to this phenomenon. Much of this eating disorder increase is a result of America's obsession with perfection in areas such as appearance and achievement. Whereas the need to be physically perfect was once exclusively directed at girls, today, boys are receiving similar pressure. Look at action figures: they are absurdly muscular, especially in the chest and shoulders. This does impact boys, not unlike the way Barbie has traditionally influenced girls. Now, consider advertising, where the men depicted are the male equivalent of super models: lean and fit, or cut and buff.
Boys and men alike often make comparisons to these images and find themselves lacking. This is why males are now dieting and working out to an extreme, becoming vulnerable to anorexia and exercise bulimia.
Remember ... Girls don't have the market cornered on low self-esteem, insecurity and negative body image, especially around the teenage years.
Discover more about this important topic by checking out the following articles.
Articles
Boys, Body Image and Eating Disorders
by Cris Haltom, Ph.D.
Unfortunately the Y chromosome does not protect boys from developing eating disorders. Males make up one out of nine or ten cases of anorexia and bulimia and about two out of three cases of binge eating disorder (Spitzer et al, 1992).
What a boy thinks of his body at puberty will have a profound effect on his emerging adult body image. Puberty is the time boys begin to see themselves coming into manhood. However, it is a particularly difficult time. Boys lag behind girls' rate of maturation at just the time societal pressure insists they become more masculine in order to be attractive to their female counterparts. Magazines, movies, television, the Internet and advertising in general all dictate an ideal male body image to our growing boys...finish article
A Silent Problem
Eating disorders – including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder – effect up to 5 million Americans every year. While eating disorders typically affect females, males make up as much as 10 percent the total population of people with eating disorders. Read More
Excessive Exercise
Excessive exercising is an often overlooked component of eating disorders. For both males and females, participation in athletics and attempts at improving athletic performance can initiate an eating disorder. There are some characteristic symptoms associated with excessive exercise; with the appropriate questioning, these symptoms can be identified and then incorporated into a comprehensive eating disorder treatment. Read More
Resources
N.A.M.E.D.'s ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP
Online Support Group for Males with Eating Disorders and Concerned Others.
Information for Boys & Men @ National Eating Disorders Association
Strategies for Prevention & Early Intervention of Male Eating Disorders @ National Eating Disorders Assoc
Theodore E. Weltzin, M.D., Medical Director, Eating Disorder Services at Rogers Memorial Hospital
Ted Weltzin has been involved in treatment and research related to eating disorders for 20 years. He was on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic from 1988 to 1994, and he served as the medical director of the inpatient Center for Overcoming Problem Eating during that time. Dr. Weltzin was also on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin as the director of the Depression Treatment Program. He currently is Director of the Eating Disorder Services at Rogers Memorial Hospital. He is also director of The Eating Disorder Center at Rogers Memorial Hospital-Delafield, which features a specialty program for the treatment of eating disorders and co-occurring anxiety disorders. Dr. Weltzin has written over 40 publications, lectured internationally and appeared as an expert on CNN and Good Morning America. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Eating Disorder Coalition as well as the editorial board for "EATING DISORDERS: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention."
