Men with eating disorders are frequently being overlooked because people assume that conditions such as anorexia and bulimia are womens problems, a new study has suggested. Researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Glasgow questioned 39 16 to 25-year-olds, ten of whom were men, about their experiences of eating disorders. It was found that young men with such conditions are underdiagnosed, undertreated and under-researched, despite making up around a quarter of cases. Read comments from Chartered Psychologist Dr Lisa Orban via this link In addition, many men felt under pressure to have the perfect body, yet a large number were unaware of the symptoms and dangers of eating disorders. Furthermore, one participant reported being told to man up by his GP after reporting food-related issues, while others said they assumed anorexia was something teenage girls got. Writing in the journal BMJ Open, authors Dr Ulla Raisanen and Dr Kate Hunt warned: Men may experience particular problems in recognising that they may have an eating disorder as a result of the continuing cultural construction of eating disorders as uniquely or predominantly a female problem. They urged doctors and caregivers to challenge these misconceptions to improve the situation for male eating disorder sufferers.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 16:35:04 +0000
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