Eating disorders can be challenging to diagnose in any case, since the person suffering from one is usually trying to keep it under wraps. This gets even more complicated when the person suffering does not fit the average assumption of who an eating disorder victim actually is.

Most of the treatment systems that are in place are geared towards women, so when men find themselves dealing with the disease in can be challenging to get the proper treatments.

This is particularly a pressing issue as the number of men admitted to the hospital for anorexia, bulimia, and muscle dysmorphia has gone up 65 percent in the past five years. In 2014 alone 320,000 men were admitted, and that does not even begin to scratch the surface of sufferers since many people suffering from eating disorders never reach the point of seeking medical care.

Many men who have been treated for eating disorders also suffer from a mental disorder such as bipolar disorder or depression, so the proper treatment might be multi faceted. Out of all of the mental illnesses, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate with 20 percent of sufferers dying early from effects of the disease.

A spokesman from the charity Beat spoke out about the importance of this issue.

“Given that there is still a great deal of stigma and misunderstanding around eating disorders in general, men in particular find it difficult to seek help,” he began.

“Specialist treatment is also mainly geared around females and getting help can seem like an overwhelmingly impossible task. Nowadays younger men are becoming more vulnerable to disliking their bodies and seeking to reshape them, and many lack the skills to discuss their feelings.”

Cognitive behavioral therapy is one way of treating eating disorders that has proven to be effective for some, but the waiting list for receiving treatment can be long and then limited in duration regardless of mental state.