Making Eating Disorder and Mental Health Treatment Accessible for Men and LGBTQ+ Communities

Jun 14

Eating disorders and mental health issues affect men and LGBTQ+ people at high rates, but stigma and structural barriers often block access to care. Learn how inclusive, affirming treatment can change that.

June brings together Pride Month and Men’s Mental Health Month—two vital observances that highlight communities often left out of mainstream mental health conversations. While the face of eating disorder recovery is often white, female, and cisgender, the truth is that men and LGBTQ+ individuals experience eating disorders and other mental health struggles at alarming rates.

Despite this, they remain deeply underrepresented in diagnosis, research, and treatment access. Stigma, gender stereotypes, and exclusionary care models continue to keep many in silence.

Let’s examine the barriers that both men and LGBTQ+ folks face in accessing care, challenge the outdated narratives still embedded in treatment, and find a vision for a more inclusive mental health future.

Eating Disorders and Mental Health: Not Just a Female Issue

Eating disorders don’t discriminate by gender or sexual orientation. However, the medical and mental health fields have long mischaracterized them as issues that mostly impact adolescent girls. This misconception leads to underdiagnosis and mistreatment of people whose symptoms don’t match traditional expectations.

In men, disordered eating is often tied to pressures around muscularity and fitness. Gym culture, sports, and even military environments can normalize behaviors like compulsive exercise, extreme dieting, and bingeing, making the signs of an eating disorder harder to recognize. At the same time, boys and men may be discouraged from speaking openly about emotional distress due to cultural expectations around masculinity.

For LGBTQ+ individuals, mental health challenges are often intensified by experiences of marginalization, trauma, and social rejection. Transgender and nonbinary people, in particular, face elevated risks for eating disorders, especially when body dysphoria and a lack of affirming care intersect. The LGBTQ+ community as a whole also contends with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation—conditions that are sometimes dismissed or misunderstood in clinical settings.

Stigma as a Wall Between Suffering and Support

Stigma is one of the most powerful and persistent barriers to recovery. For men, the internalized belief that showing vulnerability is weak can be a major deterrent from seeking help. When eating disorders are seen as “feminine,” men may not even recognize their own symptoms—or may feel ashamed for having them.

LGBTQ+ individuals, especially youth, face a different but equally harmful kind of stigma. Many have experienced being misunderstood, judged, or invalidated by healthcare providers. If a trans person has to explain their identity every time they enter a room, the clinical space may feel more exhausting than supportive.

In both cases, stigma leads to silence, and silence can be deadly.

Barriers to Eating Disorder and Mental Health Treatment

In addition to stigma, systemic issues make accessing care even more difficult for men and LGBTQ+ people. These challenges are especially pronounced when someone holds multiple marginalized identities, such as being both BIPOC and LGBTQ+, or a disabled man living in a rural area.

Here are just a few of the common barriers:

Limited provider training and representation: Most clinicians are trained using research and case studies focused on cisgender women. This leaves them less equipped to recognize and treat eating disorders in other populations.
Gendered or binary treatment models: Many treatment centers divide clients by male/female groups or assume heterosexual relationships in therapy sessions. This setup can be isolating or harmful for trans and nonbinary individuals.
Inaccessible care structures: Financial obstacles, lack of insurance coverage, transportation issues, and geographic distance from inclusive providers are all major concerns, especially for underserved communities.
Invalidating diagnostic tools: Screening criteria often reflect stereotypical symptoms. A man who doesn’t fit the typical profile for anorexia or a queer teen who binge eats but isn’t underweight may not qualify for care, even if they are in crisis.

Creating Inclusive, Affirming Care

If we want to change outcomes, we have to change the system. That begins with acknowledging the ways in which traditional care models have failed to serve everyone equally, and committing to something better.

Inclusive eating disorder and mental health treatment means offering affirming, culturally competent care that reflects the real diversity of people who need support. Providers should receive ongoing training in working with LGBTQ+ clients, including understanding pronouns, body image in queer and trans populations, and the impact of minority stress.

Treatment centers need to evaluate whether their programs are safe and accessible for all. That may include adjusting intake forms to include nonbinary gender options, rethinking how group sessions are structured, and ensuring staff reflect the communities they serve.

Community-based organizations and telehealth platforms also play a vital role in making care more accessible, especially for those who may not feel safe in traditional clinical settings.

Awareness Is Only the First Step

Pride Month and Men’s Mental Health Month are more than symbolic—they’re an invitation to reevaluate how we talk about mental health, whose voices we prioritize, and what equity in care really looks like. Awareness is important, but action is urgent.

We must ask: Who still feels unseen in our mental health systems? Who is silently suffering because the help they need isn’t built for them?

Everyone Deserves a Place in the Recovery Conversation

Mental health challenges and eating disorders do not discriminate, but access to recovery often does. Men and LGBTQ+ individuals deserve to be seen, heard, and supported with the same urgency and care afforded to any other group. No one should be denied treatment because they don’t match outdated expectations.

This June, as we honor Pride and Men’s Mental Health, let’s commit to real inclusion. Let’s expand our definitions of who struggles and who recovers. Let’s break the silence—and build systems that heal.

Mary Dobson