The Changing Face of Anorexia

Victims Of Anorexia Are Getting Older, Younger, And More Diverse

(WebMD) 
"There are a number of treatment centers in the country that specialize in treating men and boys with anorexia, and they seem to be seeing an increase in demand," says Bunnell. Is that because there's been an increase in male anorexia, or simply because doctors are finally recognizing the disease in men? "It's probably a little bit of both."

In 2003, a BBC survey of child and adolescent mental health specialists in Britain found that nearly three-quarters believed that anorexia is underdiagnosed, and not well understood, in males.

What's more, there's no doubt that the pervasive societal pressure about body image has been extended, more and more, to men. For proof, look no further than your nearest magazine stand, where you'll find numerous men's magazines featuring the same kind of unrealistically perfect models that have traditionally been found in Vogue and Cosmo.

"Boys and men are now subjected to increasingly unrealistic expectations about what they should look like, and mixed in with the national antiobesity push, we're seeing more and more tension in boys about their physical appearance," says Bunnell.


Cultural Pressures To Blame?

Experts agree that precious little is still understood about anorexia and other eating disorders in "nontraditional" populations, like men, minority groups, older women, and younger children. But many suggest that it might have to do with the pervasiveness of cultural pressures. "We have a culture that is fat-phobic, that has unrealistic notions of how thin a body type ought to be and at what age," says Mickley.

"One of the things we've been trying to figure out is how much these disorders can be attributed to inherent biological factors, and how much comes from the culture," says Bunnell. (A growing body of studies point to a strong genetic connection for anorexia.)

"The obvious answer is that it's always both. But these days, the cultural pressure about weight is so high, the focus on obesity is so intense, and the culture has broadened so much," he notes. "Maybe as the culture has gotten louder and more intense, it exposes more of that latent vulnerability."

Sources: Diane Mickley, MD, co-president, National Eating Disorders Association and founder/director, the Wilkins Center for Eating Disorders, Greenwich, Conn. Doug Bunnell, PhD, past president, NEDA; clinical director, the Renfrew Center of Connecticut, Wilton, Conn. Gayle Brooks, PhD, vice president and clinical director, the Renfrew Center, Coconut Creek, Fla. "Prevalence of Eating Disorders among African American Women." Journal of Counseling Psychology, January 2001; vol 48: pp 111-116. "Comparisons of Men With Full or Partial Eating Disorders, Men Without Eating Disorders, and Women With Eating Disorders in the Community." American Journal of Psychiatry, 2001; vol 158: pp 570-574.