Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use and Body Image in Men: A Growing Concern for Clinicians / Gen Kanayama, James I. Hudson, Harrison G. Pope, Jr. . - (Psychotherapy and Psychsomatics 89 (2020) 2 (17 February); p. 65-73).
- https://doi.org/10.1159/000505978
Abstract
Recent decades have seen increasing attention to disorders of body image [1]. In the past, most body-image studies have focused on women [2], and especially women with eating disorders [3], but now a growing literature has also begun to address body image disorders in men [4]. In particular, it appears that today’s men have become increasingly preoccupied with having a lean and muscular body, perhaps as a result of constant exposure to lean and muscular male images in movies, television, advertising, and elsewhere [1, 5]. Modern mental health professionals are very likely to encounter male patients who harbor such concerns. Importantly, many of these men use drugs (or “dietary supplements” containing drugs) in order to gain muscle or lose body fat. The use of these “body image drugs” had already surfaced as a clinical issue 20 years ago [6] and has generated increasing attention in recent years [7]. From a public health standpoint, the most concerning of these substances are the anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) – the family of hormones that includes testosterone and its synthetic derivatives. In this paper, we present a clinical update on AAS use.
