Where do men and their families turn when faced with such an emotionally charged issue? Many turn inward out of fear, shame or overwhelming frustration. Dr. Arnold Anderson, co-author of Making Weight says, “Men feel stigmatized about having these ‘women’s diseases’ and have been reluctant to seek help.”
Low Self-Esteem and Male Eating Disorders
Yet, men have just as many challenges as women—they are just different. Social pressures and media conspire to demand that men be lean and muscular. Magazines, billboards and titillating TV programs the likes of Baywatch show lots of skin—young, bronzed, and in Greek god-like perfection. Late-night infomercials tell men their excess weight "will melt off" and they can have “six-pack abs” in just 90 days.
In fact, as many men want to gain weight, in the form of increased muscle mass, as lose body fat. When men feel that they have not achieved their ideal, they may develop feelings of sexual inadequacy, poor body image and low self-esteem. These are the factors that lead to dangerous eating disorders and compulsive exercise.
Types of Male Eating Disorders
Some types of disorders common to men and boys are:
- Body Dysmorphia (or, reverse anorexia) – a condition in which a man feels he is never big or muscular enough
- Anorexia Nervosa – a condition in which eating is severely limited and ritualized because of an unusual fear of weight gain, or a compulsion to lose weight
- Bulemia Nervosa – compulsive binging and purging in order to control weight
- Compulsive exercise – as a means to increase muscle mass or to lose weight
- Collateral substance abuse – in the form of steroids, laxatives and appetite suppressants
Alcoholism, extensive unwarranted cosmetic surgeries, alienation from friends and family, job losses, failure in school and the ruination of family relations and careers are all likely results if male eating disorders are not properly addressed.
Help for Men with Eating Disorders
As clinicians learn more about the specifics of male eating disorders, they are becoming more adept in dealing with them in the gender-specific manner they deserve. Programs set up specifically for men, and segregated from women, can better address men’s specific sexual concerns, body image issues, desires for strength training and need for nutritional education.
The Eating Disorders website offers helpful links where families and loved ones can begin their research in understanding what a male eating disorder is and finding support and treatment options.
Male Eating Disorder Book Resources
Two excellent books on the prevalence of eating disorders in men, and how they differ from those of women, are:
- Making Weight: Healing Men’s Conflicts with Food, Weight, and Shape by Arnold Anderson, MD; Leigh Cohn, M.A.T., MD; and Tom Holbrook, MD.
- Bitter Ice: A memoir of Love, Food, and Obsession by Barbara Kent Lawrence (recommended for mature readers only)
Other interesting titles include Adonis Complex, by Pope, Phillips and Olivardia; Fat Boy, Thin Man, by Michael Prager; The Invisible Man, a self-help manual by John F. Morgan; and The Hungry i, a workbook for partners of men with eating disorders by Barbara Kent Lawrence.
Help for Eating Disorders Today
Much has changed since we first started to hear about eating disorders. Many new inroads have been made in treatment. All-male support groups exist now, when there were none before. And understanding of the phenomena known collectively as “eating disorders” has increased by many orders of magnitude. There is much hope for help and a return normalcy. Never give up hope.
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