Owning Up to Eating Disorders: Men have them, too
More and more men are talking about eating disorders and their struggle with them. Many of these men are also seeking eating disorder treatment for themselves. In the past, eating disorders have been previously and commonly attributed to affecting women. Although the numbers of males with eating disorders are lower than that of the females’, it is still noteworthy that the increasing figures for men are on the rise.
In Britain, somewhere around 1.6 million people are said to be suffering from an eating disorder, one out of every five of such people are male. This is according to Beat, a British organization dedicated towards helping those with eating disorders. In addition, hospitals in the country have also reported a rise in the number of men being admitted to the hospital for eating disorders within the past 10 years.
We recognize that these are just figures and they may be very under or even over reported. What it does tell us though is that men talking about eating disorders are not as taboo as it once was. Previously, men rarely even talked about the existence of the problem, much less admit to the problem and go for treatment for the eating disorder. As a result, few of those with eating disorders are properly diagnosed and even treated.
One important step towards properly recognizing the existence of the eating disorder among men is to train and equip doctors to also recognize the symptoms of eating disorders in men.
Avalon Hills and Treatment
Avalon Hills is an eating disorder treatment center that concentrates on providing a residential treatment to help those with eating disorders. Although, we do not treat men as a part of our program, we recognize the importance of men getting appropriate eating disorder treatment also. We would be happy to provide resources and referrals for those seeking treatment.
