Anorexia is a kind of eating disorder that occurs predominantly in women, wherein extreme weight loss is experienced. This condition usually affects people who are in their adolescent years, especially during the time of puberty. As a result of the weight loss, a person ends up having a weight that is less than 15% of his or her normal body weight. The fear of becoming obese is what causes anorexia in women as well as men.
In order to prevent obesity, anorexics try various techniques. They can indulge in excessive exercises or take laxatives, but the most common technique is to starve themselves. Although the majority of anorexics are teenage girls, a number of boys and men are diagnosed each year with eating disorders that are similar to anorexia. The three types of eating disorders that affect men are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. It is believed that about 15% of people with eating disorders in the United States are male. Among them, about 80% have binge eating disorder, around 10% show symptoms of bulimia, and about 5% have anorexia.
Anorexia nervosa is a very dangerous eating disorder among men. Men who suffer from this disorder are very dissatisfied with the shape of their bodies, and they are extremely scared of gaining extra weight. They may even start to believe that they have extra flab in certain parts of their body, when actually they don’t. In binge-eating disorder, boys and men go through phases when they overeat compulsively. They do so because they believe that they can get the ideal body shape by following this whimsical eating pattern. Bulimia nervosa is the third common type of eating disorder in males, and those who suffer from this disorder have binge eating episodes that are followed by attempts to purge. Purging is rendered by methods such as vomiting, taking laxatives unnecessarily, diuretics, or exercising rigorously right after binge eating. All these methods are apparently used for the purpose of preventing weight gain. In reality, however, males with eating disorders lose so much weight that they eventually need clinical help to return to normalcy.
Research has shown that eating disorders are more common in men of certain professions than others. Men who are especially associated with competitive sports, such as skiing, wrestling, gymnastics, and dancing, have a higher chance of developing eating disorders. Furthermore, eating disorders in men can be triggered by factors that are similar to those that cause the same disorders in women. Some of the factors that can cause eating disorders in men include unhealthy family patterns, wherein parents overstress their boys with fitness regimes; influence of the media, such as the muscular and lean physiques of men shown on television and magazines; and traumatic experiences of the past, such as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse during childhood.
To treat eating disorders in men, psychological counseling is most commonly used. This method involves psychotherapy as well as medication and nutritional supplements. The pattern of treatment varies from individual to individual. Most patients with eating disorders are cured by this method. A sustained effort from family members and health professionals is required to cure eating disorders in men.
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