Both the media and statistics reflect eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia as a battle most prevalent in females. However, a 2009 article by Kimberly Weisensee speculates that the statistics regarding male eating disorder sufferers could be greatly exaggerated due to men being less willing to come forward with the issue and that a large percentage of these men are athletes.
Patrick Bergstrom is a male athlete from Hagerstown, Maryland who for four years struggled with both anorexia nervosa and alcoholism. Bergstrom's disorder nearly claimed his life when in March of 2008 he sought treatment at Canopy Cove in Florida. In treatment he not only regained his health but discovered an incentive to share his story and help others experiencing similar adversities. After treatment he founded I Chose to Live, a recovery movement with the purpose of encouraging others to choose life over struggle and addiction. He also became a resource person for The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) and The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD). In addition, Bergstrom has done public speaking events across the country in order to provide awareness and prevention. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit down with Bergstrom to discuss his inspirational recovery, the misconceptions about men and eating disorders and the positive perspectives he gained after overcoming his eating disorder.
Tracy Dye: How did you get started in founding I Chose to Live? Could you tell me about the process of propelling yourself from being an eating disorder sufferer to becoming an activist?
Patrick Bergstrom: It kind of happened when I was in treatment in Florida. I was the only guy. I was in the partial program where I was at the center all day and then I had my own apartment. I had time to write and they encouraged me to write and I was like, "Oh, I'm just gonna write my story out and just figure this out." From there, I felt really good all through treatment and when I left I felt really inspired to reach out. At first I did it because there were no resources for me and I did it as a way for me to gain support after treatment. There was nothing in Maryland at the time or western Maryland particularly. The first thing I did was start the support group through ANAD to share my story and hopefully connect with other guys, athletes male and female. I decided to put it into a website and being that I majored in marketing [in college] I knew that that was the way to get [a message] out there. I was blessed to be able to know some people that ran a web firm to help me out with that. I just went for it not knowing much and it's kind of grown from there. After treatment and setting up my website I got a scholarship to go to the NEDA conference and that's where I really got started and people were like, "Why don't you speak and encourage others?" I gained a lot of information for my website and then universities and organizations started to contact me. I wasn't a public speaker. I hated [public speaking] in college but I just went for it and it worked out well. For me it needed to be done and there was a need there (meaning there were not many resources for men with eating disorders) and I also felt led to do it, I wanted to do it. It's not for everybody. I wouldn't recommend everybody jumping out of treatment and then being in recovery and throwing their story out there but it's paid dividend for my life and my recovery. I suggest being in strong recovery for 2 years before opening yourself up to the public.
TD: People often feel that the media is more scrutinizing aesthetically toward women than men and statistics often cite women as being more susceptible to body image issues and eating disorders than men. Do you feel that the media scrutinizes men in more obscure ways than women? Do you feel there may be underreporting of eating disorders amongst men due to embarrassment or stigma?
Bergstrom: NEDA has touched on that 10 million people struggle with eating disorders and 1 million are males. However, they always say that for both males and females it's underreported and that is especially true for guys. At first I thought [eating disorders] were just comprised of beauty queens dying to be thin and that just wanted me. Guys are supposed to be strong and not talk about their feelings and that's pushed in the media and is how men are marketed. I don't feel like the media causes eating disorders but it definitely adds fuel to the fire.
(To view the second part of this interview, click here)
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