NBC family drama explores range of male mental health issues
Palm Beach PostJan 05, 2021
After a seven-week-long winter hiatus, "This Is Us" returns tonight with an original episode.
Fans of the hit
Randall’s panic attacks.
Toby’s depression.
Kevin’s alcohol and drug addictions.
In an episode earlier this season, 40-year-old Kevin (played by actor
(Incidentally, women with eating disorders often suffer with conflicted emotions while pregnant. As psychologist
The multi-timeline structure of "This Is Us" enables viewers to see the origins of its main characters’ mental health struggles.
As a pre-adolescent, Kevin and his father — a recovering alcoholic himself — bonded over football and weightlifting in the garage of the family’s home.
The harder Kevin worked pumping iron, the more love and approval his father gave him.
Pretty soon, Kevin internalized this message and worked out ferociously on his own — at all hours of the day and night.
And thus the seeds of lifelong addictive behavior — to exercise … to restrictive eating … and eventually to drugs and alcohol — were born.
Being an actor only has only heightened Kevin’s concerns about his appearance — and given the show an opportunity to further explore body and self-esteem issues men are often reluctant to talk about or even acknowledge.
“Eating disorders are not simply about food, body or weight, but are complex mental illnesses. This is as true for males as it is for females, who both tend to have tendencies toward depression, anxiety, substance use, perfectionism and/or low self-esteem,” said
According to recent research, males comprise an estimated 35 percent of all diagnosed eating disorders.
But this likely doesn’t represent anywhere near the number of men who struggle with eating and body-image disorders.
“Because of the longstanding, erroneous stigma around these issues, men are less likely to believe they have a problem or ask for psychological help,” explained Caggiani. “In addition, screening assessments, initially designed for females, often include language that may not accurately identify disordered behaviors in males.”
Throw in the fact that both society and the medical community rightly reinforce the benefits of exercise and muscle-building and it’s not surprising that many men with addictive personalities are vulnerable to the “some is good — more is better” way of thinking.
“In short, men may be praised for the eating and exercise behaviors that are actually part of their illness,” noted Caggiani.
Another complicating factor for those with depression, anxiety, eating and/or exercise disorders has been the effects of the pandemic.
Pandemic stress has affected everyone and may give folks the need to feel they’re in control of something.
“We’ve seen a significant rise in individuals reaching out for eating-disorder treatment and support during the pandemic,” said Caggiani.
She added that “telehealth psychotherapy and nutrition therapy are highly effective for people meeting criteria for outpatient care, which is the majority of those with eating disordered diagnoses.”
The reasons why people develop eating, exercise and body-image issues are as varied as the folks suffering from them.
They span all races, ages and cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.
But according to
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