see if this works


Many Women Bodybuilders Abuse Steroids, Use Other
Performance-Enhancing Drugs and Suffer from Body Image Disorders,
New Study Reports

January 26, 2000 -- Belmont, MA -- A new study by McLean Hospital
researchers has found widespread abuse of steroids and the use of
other performance-enhancing drugs in many women bodybuilders. In
addition, the study found that many women bodybuilders also suffer
from eating disorders and other body image disorders.
The study, believed to be the first in-depth look at
anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use in women bodybuilders, is
published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
The study involved 75 women athletes who had competed in at least
one bodybuilding or fitness contest, or who had lifted weights in
the gym five days or more per week for at least two years. Study
participants, mostly all from the Boston area, received psychiatric
and medical evaluations as part of the investigation.
Of the 75 subjects, 25 reported current or past steroid use. Women
in both the steroid-using and nonsteroid-using groups reported use
of other performance-enhancing drugs such as ephedrine, which were
used by 20 of the 25 steroid users and 21 of the 50 non-users.
"Bodybuilding can be a dangerous activity for women who have or are
at risk for developing eating or body image disorders because the
bodybuilding community accepts as normal the compulsive dieting,
self-preoccupation and concomitant substance abuse that are
associated with these disorders," said study author Amanda Gruber,
MD, a researcher at McLean Hospital’s Biological Psychiatry
Laboratory. Gruber collaborated on the study with Harrison Pope, MD,
PhD, chief of McLean’s Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, the paper’s
second author.
Sixteen of the 25 users reported at least one psychological effect
due to AAS, including moodiness, irritability and aggressiveness.
Fourteen of these women reported hypomanic symptoms during steroid
use and 10 reported depressive symptoms during steroid withdrawal.
Only one of these 16 women reported engaging in violent acts while
taking steroids.
Nineteen of the steroid users reported at least one adverse medical
effect, the most serious being acute renal failure, which was
reported by three women.
According to the researchers, one of the most interesting findings
of the study was the high prevalence of eating disorders and other
psychiatric disorders in women bodybuilders in general.
The first syndrome, dubbed by the researchers as "eating disorder,
bodybuilder type (ED, BT)," is characterized by rigid adherence to a
high-calorie, high-protein, low-fat diet eaten at regularly
scheduled intervals. ED, BT was found in 55 of the 75 study
subjects.
"Nontraditional gender role," the second syndrome identified in 55
of 75 study subjects, is characterized by a strong preference for
stereotypical masculine clothing, occupations and games or pastimes,
and a strong preference for male friends.
Sixty-five out of the 75 study subjects reported extreme
dissatisfaction with their bodies, a newly described syndrome called
"muscle dysmorphia" in which bodybuilders in top physical condition
feel small and weak.
"These patterns of eating behavior, gender role behavior and body
image disorder caused profound effects on the social and
occupational functioning of women bodybuilders. We encountered women
who held degrees in law, medicine or business, yet had abandoned
these careers to pursue an all-consuming lifestyle of rigorous
dieting and spending many hours at the gym," said Gruber.
The study was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug
Abuse.
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I can believe that. Although I'm not sure as to the bias of it. Obviously the University who did the study put out the report. But, here's my question- are they studying what obese and overweight people think about themselves? Are they studying the emotional and psychological states of those people? I would assume that obese and overweight people have far more issues than women bodybuilders.
I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark here, and say no. Reason being, is that Americans have become ot overweight, it is now way out of the norm for people to look like we do, when in all actuality most of us look like we are supposed to. Sure there may be some body image issues...like the better we get our bodies to look, the harder we train diet, etc...But at least we are taking our own well being into account. We're not blaming our childhoods or relationships. We are almost looked down upon, or stick out like sore thumbs because we are NOT overweight. Our diets consist of whole foods, low fat, high protein, whatever. Just because we don't go gorging ourselves at the nearest McDonalds and Taco Bell, WE are now said to have body image issues. WTF? Where does it end? So now, because some obese people don't have bidy image issues or psychological problems, we are now the unhealthy ones? I'm not at all flaming your post. It's a great read. All I'm saying is now, since America has become so fat, an epidemic, and no one can seem to get them thinner, the focus has now turned to some of the most in shape people around. Like they are unhealthy. PUH-LEAZE!

^^^