Opening Doors
for Homeowners
Like You
Historically, the ratio of women to men with
eating disorders like bulimia nervosa and
anorexia nervosa has been calculated at roughly
10 to one (Weltzin, 2005). In contrast, for binge
eating approximately 40% are men. Men who
struggle with binge eating disorder may go on
to develop bulimia if purging is used to cope
with the fear of weight gain associated with the
binge eating behavior. The assumption that men
and women are equal with having eating
disorders has resulted in men with eating
disorders being “under-diagnosed, undertreated,
and misunderstood (Strother, Lemberg,
Stanford, & Turberville, 2012).”
“The severity of bulimia is determined
by the number of times a week that you
purge, usually at least once a week for
at least three months.”
BULIMIA
NERVOSA
People with bulimia may secretly
binge-eating large amounts of food
with a loss of control over the
eating and then purge, trying to
get rid of the extra calories in an
unhealthy way.
Bulimia is a blend of a psychiatric
illness and a maladaptive coping
skill. Sometimes men develop
bulimia as a way to cope with
trauma, anxiety, depression, stress
or other uncomfortable thoughts,
feelings, sensations or experiences.
If you or a loved one feel any of the
symptoms,
Please seek professional help.
COM PA NY
 A 2014 study in the Journal of
Body Image, analyzed four studies
of undergraduate men, and found
that over 90% of the men in the
studies, struggle in some way with
body dissatisfaction and negative
emotions, thoughts or opinions
towards their body.
BODY IMAGE
Although women’s struggles with body
image regularly make headlines, the data
clearly indicates that male body image
dissatisfaction is a significant emerging
problem that cannot be ignored.Eating
disorders and male mental health
challenges are often shrouded in secrecy,
which increases barriers for those seeking
treatment and indicates that research may
actually significantly underrepresent the
number of men who struggle in silence.
“ ”
Bulimia and eating disorders do not discriminate according to shape, size, age, sex, gender,
sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, income or educational level. Anyone can develop an eating
disorder.
Like women, men with eating disorders can be deeply dissatisfied with their appearance, many
seeing themselves as too heavy and needing to lose weight, and a comparable number of men are
deeply dissatisfied and have profound perceptual distortions but because they are not sufficiently
muscular or big enough. Of the men who use many of the same weight control methods as women
do to pursue thinness, half will be pursuing muscularity (Cain et al., 2004).
Imagine a man far bigger than the typical male with bulging biceps and body fat less than 5%
complaining that they are not muscular enough.
Unfortunately, men tend to rarely discuss body negativity, as they have few opportunities to
process what they experience or deal with the related negative emotions. Men seek treatment for
body image distress or eating disorders far less frequently than women do, or they may delay
seeking treatment until much later in the course of the illness, due to shame, stigma or other
stereotypes that make it difficult for men to ask for help.
It is time to break the silence and identify where to go for help!