Health News

Do you think that eating disorders are health issues that only women have to worry about? You’re completely wrong. Apparently the recession is causing more and more Irish men to starve themselves.

The Irish Daily Star reports that financial fears and the economic downturn have triggered a worrying rise in the number of Irish men who are suffering from the eating disorder anorexia.

Recent statistics show that at least 1 in every 10 Irish adults who are diagnosed with an eating disorder are male, but experts are now saying that the rise of ‘manorexia’ can be attributed to the pressure put on men to bring home the bacon in these challenging times.

According to the Eating Disorder Resource Centre of Ireland, more and more adult males, especially those who are currently unemployed or who have been made redundant, are developing the eating disorder.

Anorexia is a potentially fatal eating disorder that involves excessive food restriction, an irrational fear of gaining weight and a severely distorted self-image. People who suffer from anorexia actively refuse food which often leads to suffers losing so much weight, they look emaciated.

“Men are still the traditional bread-winners…but if they’ve lost their jobs, they will inevitably lose their self-esteem,” said Suzanne Horgan, the director and founder of the Eating Disorder Resource Centre of Ireland.

“Anorexia is connected to the underlying sense of unworthiness that people feel,” she added.

So if you’re suffering from some severely low self-esteem, you are at a higher risk of developing an image-related illness such as anorexia, bulimia or body dysmorphia.

Suzanne Horgan believes that the main problem in Ireland is that there are many more undiagnosed cases. Why? Well because the condition, which is traditionally associated with women and teenage girls, is frequently not recognised in men and often, because of the female connotations that the illness has, men are too embarrassed to seek help.

For more information about male anorexia, or to get help, visit the Eating Disorder Resource Centre’s website here.