How are eating disorders different with men than they are with women?
Olivardia: In general, men with eating disorders actually look very similar to women with eating disorders, but there are some differences. Men with eating disorders tend to have a history of obesity, whereas women with eating disorders typically do not. There is a point in a man’s life where he may actually be obese, start to lose weight, and then it starts to get more and more out of control. Men with eating disorders also tend to abuse alcohol much more, they tend to binge more than women, they tend to be more perfectionistic, and sometimes more obsessive. They tend to look almost like people with obsessive compulsive disorder, not that women don’t, but men tend to a little bit more so. Invariably, men with eating disorders are less likely to seek treatment for the problem, but in a lot of other ways, the expression of the eating disorder is actually quite similar. Do men deal with their eating disorder differently than men? Olivardia: I would say so, in that they tend to internaliz
