Young men are forgotten by bulimia and anorexia. Yet when they are victims, they suffer as much as women. The lack of recognition of this problem is highlighted by a British study published in the British medical journal Open (BMJ Open).
Researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Glasgow interviewed 39 young people aged 16 to 25, including 10 men, about their experiences with diagnosis, treatment and support for their eating disorders.
The researchers conclude that young men with these conditions are often “underdiagnosed, undertreated and undervalued.” In fact the boys themselves integrate the belief that anorexia and bulimia are disorders “reserved” for women, explains Dr. Ulla Raisanen and Dr. Kate Hunt, authors of the study. This perception often hinders the process of consulting a specialist.
In France, anorexia mainly affects girls (90% of cases). Bulimia affects an average of six girls for every boy. This under-representation wrongly leads some health professionals to disregard the problem when it occurs in boys.
More and more teenagers are losing their footing in a society stuffed with images of models on the verge of anorexia and ever more muscular and thin men. “Body image and weight pressures are affecting a growing number of people, including men,” Leanne Thorndyke, from the UK’s Beat Eating Disorders Association, told the BBC.
