megarexia

n. a mental condition in which one perceives one’s body as too thin and desires to be ever larger. Also megorexia. Subjects: English, Health

Editorial Note: The condition is also called bigorexia.

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Citations: 1998 Simon J. Williams The Lived Body: Sociological Themes, Embodied Issues (June 1) p. 76: There are also more general risks and dangers involved in body building, not least of which is the emergence of “megarexia,” a new condition in which the individual becomes obsessed with increasing the sheer muscular bulk of the body—the very antithesis of the anorexic body. 1999 Kenneth R. Servis, Jr. Business and Management Practices (Nov.) “On the Labor Front: Glory at a Price? Labor Takes a Stand On Steroids” vol. 29, no. 6, p. 36: Steroid abuse can give rise to a condition called megorexia, which is a desire to get and maintain a muscular body and is characterized by over-eating and a distorted body image. 2000 Rachel Solotti Waikato Times (New Zealand) (Aug. 3) “Striking A Blow For Your Average Woman”: Men are now going to have plastic surgery, more of them are working out, there’s increasing steroid abuse, there’s megarexia (where men body build excessively). 2001 Lynette Ng Pharmvision.com (July19) “Dangers of Over-exercising”: Over-exercising…may also be due to other psychological disorders (e.g. obsessive-compulsive disorder), or to megarexia (also referred to as “bigarexia” or “muscle dysmorphia”). Megarexia is characterised by a constant preoccupation with body size and a rigid exercise routine, resulting in compulsive exercising and weight training even when injuries are present. 2001 Liam Rudden Evening News (Scotland) (Nov. 5) “Dangers in weight of expectation” p. 20: A member of the body dysmorphic disorders family, muscle dysmorphia is known by many names—barbell blues, bigorexia and megarexia are all commonly used to describe a condition referred to as “inverted anorexia nervosa.” 2002 Lynne Luciano Looking Good: Male Body Image in Modern America (Jan. 9) p. 229: Reverse anorexia was first diagnosed in the early 1990s by Dr. Harrison Pope, a Harvard psychiatrist and a bodybuilder. In addition to Pope’s research, Dr. William N. Taylor, an expert on anabolic steroids, found that steroid users also develop distorted body images so that they perceive their reflections in the mirror as smaller than they actually are; Taylor called his discovery megarexia.

Posted 29 Mar 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend