What Causes Eating Disorders In Men?

While there may be some speculation about the characterizations of eating disorders in makes, as men would obviously not have menstrual cycles (the benchmark for anorexia initially set by the American Psychiatric Association), the causes for eating disorders are the same for both men as well as women.

Basically, eating disorder patients switch to food as a means of controlling their lives. Like women, men too face different forms of pressure and stress, and these can act as triggers for the person to develop an eating disorder. Men have always been under the same amount of stress as women regarding to their looks, physique, sexuality, etc., contrary to popular belief in the middle of the 20th century.

The fact that there is an overexposure to the concept of 'looking good' as being the primary way of 'feeling great' in the media has not helped matters any. Male teenagers face tremendous peer pressure to look good and be the center of attraction, and this is one of the main causes why many teenagers today are falling prey to eating disorders.