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Article: Do Sports Nutrition Companies Prey On Mental Illn

There is alot on here that COULD be true, but there is also alot missing here. If he keeps pressing this matter, liberals will come in and kill the sport of bodybuilding.

Another doctor coined that term "bigorexia". I find it entertaining that shrinks are now after men who enjoy packing on muscle. Its fun. Its masculine. Its in many ways far healthier than most other lifestyles, even amidst "substance abuse" lol. So yes, we're simply focused, no more or less than any other type of athlete, on making progress in our hobby/sport.

Its funny. We can be obsessive about OTHER athletes like soccer players, basketball, football and baseball players but NOT actually focusing that attention on ourselves to better our bodies, lol... this gets coined as a psychiatric problem.

Hypocrits. I feel there may be an ulterior motive from this guy.
 
I stopped reading at 'heroin'. I mean, really? That's insane. Most body builders are super health conscious, I can't realistically see any gym rat types making the leap from hormones to heroin. That's just pandering to the audience bias.

Which is the whole problem with this article. Your 'average person' gets 0 exercise, which is in itself a dangerous and unbalanced lifestyle. People know this, they're aware of it individually, on a personal, intimate level, because it's something one can feel. However, since it's the norm, it's difficult to behave differently. So those of us who do are the target of a lot of repressed hostility. It's a complex mix of admiration, jealousy, and peer pressure to conform and become fat and lazy like everyone else. So we're obsessive and compulsive so on.

Does anyone actually measure their bicep several times a day? Sounds fantastic (as in "a fantasy") I check my lower back pretty frequently, but I'm not using a measuring tape, lol.
 
compudog said:
I stopped reading at 'heroin'. I mean, really? That's insane. Most body builders are super health conscious, I can't realistically see any gym rat types making the leap from hormones to heroin. That's just pandering to the audience bias.

Which is the whole problem with this article. Your 'average person' gets 0 exercise, which is in itself a dangerous and unbalanced lifestyle. People know this, they're aware of it individually, on a personal, intimate level, because it's something one can feel. However, since it's the norm, it's difficult to behave differently. So those of us who do are the target of a lot of repressed hostility. It's a complex mix of admiration, jealousy, and peer pressure to conform and become fat and lazy like everyone else. So we're obsessive and compulsive so on.

Does anyone actually measure their bicep several times a day? Sounds fantastic (as in "a fantasy") I check my lower back pretty frequently, but I'm not using a measuring tape, lol.
Click to expand...

I check waist measurements, but for the purpose of observing water retention after meals. This is purely in effort to plan pre-comp dieting.

Ur second paragraph hits the nail on the head I think..
 
Put it this way, and I'm sure this statement would be echoed by most of the people on this forum, so preaching to the converted, but anyway... when I step in to your average restaurant, supermarket, hell just walking down the street, and see myself surrounded by throngs of metabolically damaged fools on a fast track to diabetes and god knows how many other serious health conditions; there is nothing this guy or anyone else could ever say to me that would convince me that THEY weren't the ones with the problem, not ME!
 
At the risk of getting flamed, I have to offer at least SOME support for the author.
His rhetoric is horrible, but his overall point isn't wrong--body dysmorphia does exist in the bodybuilding world.
I am a recovered anorexic, and I see disordered thinking and obsessive thinking in the gym and on the message boards sometimes.
In no way is it fair to say that people concerned about their physique are mentally disordered, but there are individuals who are unhealthfully engaged in bodybuilding. To the extent that supplement companies cater to individuals like this, then I suppose they are profiting off of mental disorder--but by that degree, running shoe manufacturers profit off of people 'addicted' to running.
At the end of the day, people working out and caring about how they look don't have a problem. You have a problem when you are so obsessed with working out and how you look that it negatively impacts your ability to engage in a normal and productive life.
 
scherbs said:
At the risk of getting flamed, I have to offer at least SOME support for the author.
His rhetoric is horrible, but his overall point isn't wrong--body dysmorphia does exist in the bodybuilding world.
I am a recovered anorexic, and I see disordered thinking and obsessive thinking in the gym and on the message boards sometimes.
In no way is it fair to say that people concerned about their physique are mentally disordered, but there are individuals who are unhealthfully engaged in bodybuilding. To the extent that supplement companies cater to individuals like this, then I suppose they are profiting off of mental disorder--but by that degree, running shoe manufacturers profit off of people 'addicted' to running.
At the end of the day, people working out and caring about how they look don't have a problem. You have a problem when you are so obsessed with working out and how you look that it negatively impacts your ability to engage in a normal and productive life.
Click to expand...

I agree with what you wrote, but I think it bears a bit closer look. I think there's no doubt that there are some people who suffer mental health problems associated with bodybuilding (body dysmorphia).

However the question is, do those individuals represent the majority of the bodybuilding community? It's an important question w.r.t. supplement manufacturers, because the supplement guys are going to be interested in marketing to the largest part of the bodybuilding community, and that's what the article is about.

Clearly, it's unrealistic to say that the majority of people involved in bodybuilding suffer from body dysmorphia, yet that's essentially what's being claimed by this article. Honestly it seems really unlikely that body dysmorphia sufferers could make up more than a small percentage of bodybuilders, definitely not a large enough group for supplement manufacturers to be concerned with.

So the author's premise looks mistaken at best, more likely outright fabricated IMO. Not everyone out to make a buck in the fitness industry is entirely ethical that way, surprise surprise.
 
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