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Saturday, March 7, 2009: 3:45 PM-5:15 PM
Casablanca (Westin Long Beach)
Shame haunts many women and girls with eating disorders. Now, imagine the shame of an adolescent boy suffering from bulimia related to sexual abuse, or a once-chubby, but now skinny anorexic, boy. These young men are unlikely to discuss their secret concerns and behaviors because they have a “female problem.” Yet, despite the stigma, eating disorders are increasing in males. Research suggests that hundreds of thousands of boys have eating disorders. This presentation will explore causality and body image issues in eating disorder boys, as well as DBT, experiential, and multi-media based treatment.
Cases involving boys with eating disorders can be traced as far back as the 1600s, yet it is not uncommon for modern healthcare providers to miss eating disorder symptoms in males. Evidence is mounting to suggest that at present there are hundreds of thousands of boys with eating disorders, suffering from what has been labeled a female problem. It is difficult to determine exact eating disorder prevalence in boys due to their tendency to hide internal experiences from themselves and others. But now it seems that the masculine mask is beginning to crumble under increasing societal pressure for boys and men to have an ideal body.
The male body has become an advertising tool. Boys are inundated with images of unrealistic male physiques, placing obese boys and those delayed in development at higher risk for eating disorders. Yet body image is only one piece of a boy’s eating disorder puzzle. Recent research suggests that boys with eating disorders have a negative self-concept and difficulty coping with emotion. They experience higher suicidal behavior than their female counterparts. Boys with eating disorders struggle with family and peer relationships and may be confused about their sexual orientation to a greater degree than average. With these many stressors, the typical male coping style seems to make matters worse by perpetuating the mask and hiding the shame that is felt.
For boys with eating disorders, just as with girls, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy coupled with Family Therapy appears to be the most efficacious course of treatment. However, core issues and body image concerns differ for boys, as do specific treatment needs and approaches. This presentation will examine these differences, including the unique roles of exercise and experiential treatments with eating disorder boys.
This presentation is designed to be an interactive effort to explore eating disorders among boys as a unique entity as opposed to simply a variation of eating disorders in females. This goal will be accomplished through lecture, small group discussion, cinematic elements and experiential participation. Young males are almost conditioned by culture to hide their true selves behind idealized masculinity. Conflict is realized when a boy’s internal experiences contradict societal expectations often resulting in identity confusion and shame. These two factors are at the core of boys with eating disorders and the coping mechanism of choice seems to be self-blame. Shame, identity and self-blame will be key themes throughout this presentation. Lecture will focus on a biopsychosocialspiritual conceptualization of boys with eating disorders highlighting the themes mentioned above as well as male body image. Movie clips will also be viewed, discussed and presented as a therapeutic tool to facilitate the processing of otherwise taboo subjects. Experiential therapeutic activities will be demonstrated and DBT will be discussed to complete the emphasis on effective treatment.
The male body has become an advertising tool. Boys are inundated with images of unrealistic male physiques, placing obese boys and those delayed in development at higher risk for eating disorders. Yet body image is only one piece of a boy’s eating disorder puzzle. Recent research suggests that boys with eating disorders have a negative self-concept and difficulty coping with emotion. They experience higher suicidal behavior than their female counterparts. Boys with eating disorders struggle with family and peer relationships and may be confused about their sexual orientation to a greater degree than average. With these many stressors, the typical male coping style seems to make matters worse by perpetuating the mask and hiding the shame that is felt.
For boys with eating disorders, just as with girls, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy coupled with Family Therapy appears to be the most efficacious course of treatment. However, core issues and body image concerns differ for boys, as do specific treatment needs and approaches. This presentation will examine these differences, including the unique roles of exercise and experiential treatments with eating disorder boys.
Primary Presenter:
Samuel A. Lample, MA, LPC
Samuel A. Lample, LPC, is an Assistant Clinical Director of the Remuda Ranch child and adolescent programs for boys and girls. He has been a therapist in the eating disorder field for over 7 years. He has presented on eating disorders in the local school system, the university setting and to county-wide mental health providers. Focusing on children over the past few years afforded him the opportunity to co-author an article on parenting and limit-seting in ParentLife Magazine, September 2007. Mr. Lample has taken a particular interest in DBT skills with the eating disorder population.
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