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Narratives of males with eating disorders

For years, eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, have been studied extensively among adolescent girls and young women. However, despite recent research revealing a significant percentage of men display behaviours related to eating disorders, their individual experiences remain relatively unstudied. Additionally, given the reality that many males usually conceal or deny having the disorder, few studies yielding in-depth accounts of their lived experiences have also not been completed. This study, however, examined, through narrative inquiry, the experiences of two young adult males who were medically diagnosed with and treated, or were presently being treated, for disordered eating. Though each was not impervious to societal and familial pressures to look and be perfect, such pressures, tragically, were exacerbated by the pronounced fear, and actual experience, of being stigmatized by helping professionals. These findings provide a preliminary understanding of the threat that disordered eating poses for males, irrespective of background and lifestyle. Aside from having implications for theory, these findings are also expected to contribute in ways that will help to inform the practices of counsellors and therapists in the field of psychology.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-09192004-151449
Date22 September 2004
CreatorsAshuk, Ryan M.
ContributorsSchwean, Vicki L., Robinson, Sam, Pawlovich, Walt, Nicol, Jennifer A. J., Wickett, R. E. Y. (Reg)
PublisherUniversity of Saskatchewan
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-09192004-151449/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

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