Posts Tagged ‘Males’

The topic of eating disorders in males has only been considered widely in eating disorder research and treatment communities for the last 30 years. Prior to the 1990s, eating disorders were thought to be so rare in men that they were not typically recognized as a population that could struggle with the illness. Males with Eating Disorders by Arnold Andersen, the first textbook that focused exclusively on eating disorders in males, came out in 1990. In subsequent years, researchers have contributed new information about eating disorders in men to the field’s literature, even as the general public continues to assume that eating disorders only affect women.

Due to these trends in research and public opinion, many eating disorder treatment interventions were created with women in mind (Strother, Lemberg, Stanford, & Turberville, 2012). Thankfully, this trend is starting to change, but there is still a need for a greater focus on eating disorders in men.

In this blog, we will discuss eating disorders in men and how they may present differently than in other genders, as well as the importance of considering the male experience in the treatment, research, and discussion of these illnesses. 

Episode description:

Ken Capobianco is an award-winning music critic whose work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Billboard, The New York Times, and many more publications. While immersed in the rock and roll music scene, Ken found himself struggling with severe anorexia—for 30 years. Despite living with a severe eating disorder for all of those years, Ken found eating disorder recovery and wrote a book about his experience.