Eating
Disorders
Men, Boys Also Battle Eating
Disorders
(October 17, 2003) - CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Gorging on pizza and fast food is a
rite of passage for most college students, but after years of struggling with
eating disorders an 18-year-old Charlotte, N.C., freshman barely enjoys french
fries.
This student is not the young, white female who doesn't think she's skinny
enough. He's a young man who spent middle school and part of high school
counting calories, throwing up six times a day and weighing himself just as
often. Even today, he rarely eats fried foods.
"I just got to the point last year where I'd eat fries," he said.
" But I can't eat them too often or I'll freak out."
Because he's recovering from
anorexia nervosa
and bulimia and still
struggles with his body image, he asked to remain anonymous.
Twenty years ago, experts estimated that for every 10 to 15 women with
anorexia or bulimia, there was one man. Today researchers believe it's one man
in four for anorexia, and one in 8 to 11 for bulimia.
Men tend to develop eating disorders two years later than women, which
makes it age 16 for anorexia and 20 for bulimia. Experts say the underlying
psychological factors are the same for both sexes: low self-esteem, a need to
be accepted, depression and an inability to cope with emotions or issues. And
like women, there's societal pressure for men to possess a certain body type.
Typically, guys involved in weight-conscious activities such as wrestling,
dancing or modeling are most susceptible to eating disorders. Therapists and
dieticians are now treating more men who aren't involved in those types of
activities. Just as girls are pressured to look like Britney Spears, magazine
covers and TV commercials encourage guys to have L.L. Cool J's arms and 50
Cent's abs and chest.
"The media is fueling the sense of body dissatisfaction in the average
person," said Charles Anderson, a post-doctoral fellow at the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who is researching gender differences in eating
disorders. "The images of males and females that are in the media are sort
of this ideal
body image that's being portrayed."
Men tend to be reluctant to admit they have an eating disorder, but in the
late '90s, Silverchair front man Daniel Johns publicly discussed his battle
with anorexia. The band's 1999 single, "Ana's Song," is about his
fight with the disorder.
It's not only male celebrities struggling with the illness. In Charlotte,
therapists, dieticians and social workers are treating more boys. Ruth Hall, a
licensed clinical social worker in Charlotte, says she's treated boys ages 10
and 11 whose obsessive-compulsive disorder manifests as an eating disorder.
She's had fat-phobic boys who won't eat if they don't exercise.
"I've seen people just hopping and jumping in my waiting room,"
she said. "They don't feel like they have permission to eat unless they've
exercised that day. It's so sad, so tragic."
It took a feeding tube for the 18-year-old Charlotte teen who now likes
french fries to seriously confront his illness. Throughout elementary school,
he ate to cope with being unpopular. He was 5 feet 2 inches, 182 pounds by
fifth grade. In sixth grade, he stopped eating meat and ran about three miles a
day. Then he stopped eating sweets, fried food and pizza.
In seventh grade, he discovered purging. By ninth grade, he was 6 feet 1
inch, 135 pounds. His school counselor recommended a therapist.
He went, but kept losing weight. His parents sent him to a Wisconsin
hospital that specialized in treating men with eating disorders. He wouldn't
stop running and purging. The hospital had to stick a feeding tube down his
throat.
The tube made him realize he had a serious problem. He stayed in the
hospital for four months. When he came back to Charlotte, he continued seeing a
therapist and a dietician. He's had relapses and struggles with binge eating,
but he no longer purges or skips meals.
There are support groups in Charlotte for alcoholics, drug addicts and even
overeaters, but there are few places where a guy can go to deal with an eating
disorder.
"I know I will never be totally cured. You never look at food the same
way," he said. "I'm in a much better place. I eat three meals a day,
actually more like two and a half. I have a distorted body image. It's always
saying you're not skinny enough, you're not cute enough."
He now ignores that voice.
Related Story
Source: The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
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