Men with Eating Disorders Slow to Get Help, Study Shows - East Idaho News

Men with Eating Disorders Slow to Get Help, Study Shows

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GETTY 4814 ManWeight?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1397059321483deeepblue/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The perception that anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating and non-specific eating disorders are problems for women alone delays men getting help, according to a small study in the journal BMJ Open.

Men suffering from eating disorders can go days without eating — purging, calorie counting, exercising and obsessively weighing in — and they can isolate themselves from others, the study finds. Often, the situation reaches a crisis point before these men get help.

“Men with eating disorders are under-diagnosed, under-treated and under-researched,” write the authors, Ulla Raianen of the University of Oxford, and Kate Hunt of the University of Glasgow.

“Our findings suggest that men may experience particular problems in recognizing 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 add.

This perception has “also been embedded in clinical practice,” they note, adding that in order to improve the outlook for men with eating disorders, “early detection is imperative.”

A 2011 study in the International Journal of Eating Disorders reveals that eating disorders affect four million Americans and can be just as damaging to men, who seek treatment less often.

Other studies have suggested that men account for one in four cases, but the true prevalence is not known because symptoms are not always recognized, according to the British study.

Researchers reported many delays in diagnosis, issues of comfort with doctors who were not empathetic and even one case of a gastroenterologist who urged a patient to “man up,” after he had prolonged vomiting and weight loss. Even when given information, or referred to support groups, several men felt it had an approach tailored to women and no specific guidance for males.

“It’s a stigma for girls — but it is horrendous for boys, but it’s not something that is necessarily the same etiology,” said Keith Ayoob, director of the nutrition clinic at the Rose R. Kennedy Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. “It can be the guy who is purging to make weight on the wrestling team or the guy who wants the perfect body, but not necessarily the kind girls want — they want to look shrink-wrapped for training.”

Dr. Evelyn Attia, director of the Eating Disorders Research Program at Columbia University Medical Center, said men often feel isolated from treatment and support groups.

“Men often feel their early signs and symptoms are not related to an eating disorder but are related to a specific behavior such as being a perfectionist or pursuing athletic activities in an appropriate way,” she said. “They often do not recognize that they’re putting their bodies at risk and getting into trouble.”

“Families and health care providers need to realize this is a gender-neutral illness that affects all walks of life equally,” Attia said. “As such, early detection and treatment is key. There is no clear data of specific causes for eating disorders in men, thus the focus should be on early symptoms and behavior.”

Upwards of 70 percent of cases of eating disorders are associated with a history of abuse, substance abuse or coexisting psychiatric illness, according to the latest British study.

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