Featuring Dr. Kim Dennis, NEDA Clinical Advisory Council:

  
This stigma is fueled by outdated ideas about who can—and can’t—have an eating disorder, Kimberly Dennis, MD, a member of the Clinical Advisory Council at the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) and the co-founder of SunCloud Health, tells SELF. “It’s been a pretty persistent, long-held myth that [eating disorders] are diseases that impact skinny white girls,” Dr. Dennis says. “That harms large portions of the population, [including] men.” According to data from NEDA, about a third of all people with eating disorders are men. Because most of the messaging around eating disorder warning signs has traditionally been focused on women, many men don’t understand that they’re susceptible to these diseases, Dr. Dennis adds. Often, when they start to experience symptoms, “The men themselves don’t know it’s a disorder,” she explains. “They often feel shame about it because they think, this is a women’s disease. Why am I experiencing this?” Even men who know they have a problem may be less likely to try to get help, she adds. “Because of the concepts of toxic masculinity, the cultural norms of what a man is—a lot of that messaging and the psychosocial aspects of being a man in our culture can interfere with a man seeking eating disorder treatment,” Dr. Dennis says. Research has shown men are less likely than women to receive a mental health–related diagnosis, and traditionally masculine social expectations may be to blame.  READ MORE