Many people think that only girls with teen depression are affected by what are known as eating disorders. But, studies have revealed that teen boys and young men are also affected by body-image issues. These issues are generally caused by use of drugs or supplements, binge drinking and so on. Even in the new studies conducted, it has been found that more than 30% of teen boys are having the habit of binge eating, binge drinking and purging of food. From this, it is quite clear that eating disorders are not just the issue of girls alone.
Researchers have to consider male teens also
The extension of this is that even teen boys and young men also make attempts for enhancing their body or appearance. Though this issue resembles the traditional eating disorders, it also involves use of drugs and supplements and goes along with teen depression. It may involve binge drinking, recreational use of drugs, etc. also. This means that experts have to consider males also while researching about eating disorders related to teen depression.
In classical instances of eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa can be observed. If a person refrains from eating, it is called anorexia nervosa and in bulimia nervosa, the affected person binge-eats and then purges the food by vomiting or using laxatives.
What do the studies reveal?
Experts have found that one-tenth of people affected by teen depression and eating disorders are males but, unlike females, they adopt a different approach other than purging. The intention of the studies of these experts was to find out the links between eating disorders and unhealthy behaviors like use of drugs or alcohol. The findings of these studies reveal that nearly 31% of young men and teens have indulged in binge eating or purging at least once.
The studies also revealed that nearly 9% of these teens were very much concerned about the muscularity of their body. 2% of them had concerns not only about the muscularity of their body but had made use of some supplement or the other, some type of growth-hormone derivative or anabolic steroid to enhance their body. Studies conducted on young people aged between 16 and 22 shockingly revealed that 8% of them used such products. 6% of the young men were concerned both about muscularity and also their thinness. About 3% of people expressed concerns only about thinness of their bodies. Experts point out that these people are likely to be affected by depression symptoms at a later date. These studies clearly show that teen males who have concerns about their body images use unhealthy products or indulge in harmful activities.
Why using untested products can be risky
The real problem is that a myriad number of products are available online and no one knows if these products are safe and healthy. Only if they are tested, their efficacy can be known. But, a few tests of some of the products have revealed that most of the products do not conform to the claims that are made about them.
But, it has been clearly established that young men and teen males who make use of such enhancement products have more tendency to do binge-drinking as well as using of drugs. This shows that there are firm links between teen depression and drug addiction and body-image issues.
In other words, this drug addiction issue is similar to binge-and-purge disorder because these teen males use these products for altering or enhancing their bodies.
Responsibilities of families
Almost all the experts agree that taking drugs or unproven supplements are not healthy behaviors. They say that the families of these teens should know about these behaviors apart from knowing about their problem of teen depression. But, some of these experts refuse to confirm that these are eating disorders in the true sense.
Young men or women having concerns about their bodies or weight is not an uncommon thing but, they should take the right and healthy steps and for legitimate reasons to avoid teen depression.