LIFE WORKS - WORRYING 90% INCREASE IN MALE EATING DISORDERS

Eating disorders are responsible for more loss of life than any other type of psychological illness. Today, around 1.1 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder and an alarming 10% of these are thought to be men.

[ClickPress, Fri Aug 03 2007] Eating disorders are responsible for more loss of life than any other type of psychological illness (1). Today, around 1.1 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder and an alarming 10% of these are thought to be men. At Life Works (www.lifeworkscommunity.com), one of Europe’s leading addiction treatment centres, they are seeing a growing trend in the relatively un-noticed disorder of bulimia amongst men but acknowledge that many males with eating disorders are either failing to report them to their GP or they are being mis-diagnosed.

As such Life Works are announcing a call to action to recognise symptoms of bulimia. They are highlighting key signs for families, friends and colleagues to look out for:
• Disappearing to the bathroom after meals
• Disappearance of large quantities of food, or overeating, without apparent sign of weight gain
• Unexplained irritability and mood swings
• Over exercising (in order to burn calories off after binges)

The widespread problem of eating disorders has increased greatly over the last 30-40 years and has received regular media attention. However, over the last three years (2003/4 – 2005/6), the Department of Health has seen a massive 90% increase in the number of men reported with eating disorders, whereas in the same period the increase in cases reported amongst women was 25% (2)

The first challenge that Life Works identifies is correct diagnosis. Many cases of male eating disorders are unreported due to doctors failing to recognise symptoms that are traditionally associated with women but historically unusual amongst men - in some cases problem-eating behaviors are present but do not meet the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder. The second challenge is overcoming the stereotypical view of bulimia. Traditionally it is an eating disorder associated with women and so therefore many men find it harder to admit that they might be suffering from it. The ‘alpha male’ view of being seen as unable to cope brings feelings of shame and denial to the surface and many men worry about the connotations of homosexuality.

Life Works is keen to address the rising issue of male eating disorders and have introduced a new holistic treatment regime which treats the whole person – healing the mind, body, spirit and emotions. Treatment looks at individual’s lives, past and present, looking at where they are now and past trauma / experiences that could have led to problems. Life Works also believe that the cycle of addiction and dysfunction is trans-generational - in essence it can be a family illness. They recognise that those who have close relatives with bulimia are four times more likely to develop the condition than people who do not. For this reason they support the families of clients through their Family Works Programme. Here, counsellors work with the families to identify detrimental elements and to understand the nature of addiction. In this way individuals and their families can begin to heal the emotional pain together, thus creating a stronger support network.


For further information or if you would like to interview Philo Jacquet please contact Abbie Salisbury/Beccy Whittles, MAX PR & Events Ltd
020 8334 5749 / beccy@maxpr-events.com

Visuals of Life Works and Philo are available to download from
http://www.maxpr-events.com/gallery_31.html


Notes to Editor:

Case Study:
One man who knows all about the devastating effects of bulimia is Philip Jacquet. At 34 years old, Philip is a recovering bulimic. His difficult relationship with food started at the age of ten. It was not until 17 years later at the age of 27 when he began his recovery. Philip identifies food as a way to medicate his feelings. At the time he saw food as a solution, but food was either his best friend or his worst enemy and this in time began to generate his own problems. Philip’s on-going pre-occupation with food was so severe that he was unable to focus or engage at work. Food anaesthetised his feelings to the point of not even being able to be in a relationship with himself let alone other people.

“All my early life I was preoccupied with my weight and body image. I remember eating whilst standing on weighing scales and as soon as the needle moved I would stop eating. I would exercise for two hours each day as well as throw up in order to control my weight. I was caught in a vicious cycle of wanting to eat more but not gain weight”

Philip

Philip is also quick to stress the importance of early diagnosis. One of the outcomes of not treating his eating disorder quickly was the dependency on other addictions, which in Philip’s case, was heroin and crack. “I remember using heroin and feeling a sense of achievement because I was losing weight.” It was only after addressing his addiction to drugs that Philip was able to focus on his primary addiction to food.

It has been a long road to recovery, but today Philip has a good relationship with food. He chooses to avoid white flour and sugar and eats three healthy meals a day. Now he has a life in between meals. Now part of a team of therapists at Life Works, Philip hopes to give back to men with bulimia what he has learnt in overcoming his own addiction.



(1) http://www.disordered-eating.co.uk/eating-disorders-statistics/eating-disorders-statistics.html
(2) Figures taken from Hansard

Bookmark this release: Del.icio.us - Digg - Furl - Blinklist - Reddit