This article by Kai Schweizer, a PhD candidate in Youth Mental Health from The University of Western Australia, was originally published in\u00a0The Conversation\u00a0on 30 December 2025.<\/p>\n
When people picture someone with an eating disorder, many think of a thin, teenage girl with anorexia nervosa. This stereotype is so pervasive it can feel like a fact.<\/p>\n
The reality is that eating disorders affect people of all ages, body sizes, cultures, races, sexes, genders and sexualities. In 2023, around 1.1 million Australians (around 4.5% of the population) were living with an eating disorder.<\/p>\n
A growing body of evidence suggests LGBTQIA+ people are particularly vulnerable to developing eating disorders. But we still need more research to understand how and why they affect this group more.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we know so far about LGBTQIA+ people\u2019s higher risk \u2013 and what treatment actually works for them.<\/p>\n
What is an eating disorder?<\/p>\n
Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that affect a person\u2019s eating behaviours. They can harm both physical and mental health.<\/p>\n
Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most well-known eating disorders, but the most common are actually binge eating disorder (eating a lot in a short amount of time and feeling out of control) and avoidant\/restrictive food intake disorder (restricting eating because of sensory sensitivity, lack of appetite, or fear of illness or choking).<\/p>\n
Eating disorders can cause damage to a person\u2019s organs, bones, fertility and brain function. People with an eating disorder are up to five times more likely to die early than those without one.<\/p>\n
How much higher is the risk for LGBTQIA+ people?<\/p>\n
Research shows that LGBTQIA+ people have much higher rates of eating disorders than non-LGBTQIA+ people.<\/p>\n
For example, in the United States an estimated 9% of the population will experience an eating disorder in their lifetime. But a 2018 survey of LGBTQ young people in the US found rates were significantly higher:<\/p>\n
54% reported an eating disorder diagnosis<\/p>\n
another 21% thought they had an eating disorder, but hadn\u2019t been diagnosed.<\/p>\n
Within the LGBTQIA+ community, the risk also varies across different groups:<\/p>\n
lesbian, gay and bisexual people: more than twice as likely to have an eating disorder as heterosexual people<\/p>\n
intersex people: nearly four times as likely as endosex (non-intersex) people<\/p>\n
trans people: nearly 11 times more likely than cisgender people.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t have data for asexual people, but we do know that asexual people have poorer body image than their non-asexual peers. So it is likely they also experience higher rates of eating disorders.<\/p>\n
Why LGBTQIA+ people face higher risk<\/p>\n
\nBeing an LGBTQIA+ person is not a mental illness. There is no evidence of a biological reason why LGBTQIA+ people experience higher rates of eating disorders.<\/p>\n
While many factors contribute, two of the most studied risk factors are minority stress and gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n
1. Minority stress<\/p>\n
Minority stress refers to how discrimination and stigma negatively impact the health of LGBTQIA+ people. This means it is not who they are, but how LGBTQIA+ people are treated that drives their higher risk.<\/p>\n
Discrimination can lead LGBTQIA+ people to feel shame about their identities and bodies. Some people try to cope through disordered eating behaviours, which can develop into an eating disorder.<\/p>\n
For intersex people, medically unnecessary surgeries in childhood to \u201cnormalise\u201d their bodies can cause trauma and shame that can also increase eating disorder risk.<\/p>\n
2. Gender dysphoria<\/p>\n
Many trans people experience something called gender dysphoria. This is the distress, discomfort or disconnect that can happen when a person\u2019s gender identity doesn\u2019t match their physical body or how others see them. For many trans people, eating disorders can be an attempt to reduce gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n
In trans teens, eating disorders often develop as a way to stop puberty when they can\u2019t access puberty blocking medications. For example, restricting food may be a way to try to reduce the appearance of breast tissue or to stop having periods.<\/p>\n
What kind of treatment would work?<\/p>\n
After a diagnosis, typical eating disorder treatment involves a multidisciplinary team including a doctor, mental health professional and dietitian. Treatment can be provided in the community or in a hospital if someone\u2019s physical health needs close monitoring.<\/p>\n
But eating disorder treatment was not designed with LGBTQIA+ people in mind and can sometimes cause harm. LGBTQIA+ people report more negative experiences of treatment compared to the general population.<\/p>\n
For example, mirror exposure exercises are a common therapy, where someone with an eating disorder is asked to look in a mirror for prolonged periods to lessen their body image distress. But for some trans people this can worsen their gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t mean treatment can\u2019t help LGBTQIA+ people. It means treatment has to be adapted to ensure it meets their needs.<\/p>\n
In practice, this might look like:<\/p>\n
consistently using the right name and pronouns<\/p>\n
using inclusive language and gender options on documents<\/p>\n
displaying explicit statements that LGBTQIA+ people are welcome in the service<\/p>\n
incorporating gender-affirming medical care into eating disorder treatment<\/p>\n
addressing minority stress in a trauma-informed way. This means validating how someone might experience, responding to discrimination\u00a0and stigma, and working with them to build healthier coping strategies and stronger support systems.<\/p>\n
This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n If this article raised any concerns for you or someone you know, contact the Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 4673. You can also contact QLife at 1800 184 527.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article by Kai Schweizer, a PhD candidate in Youth Mental Health from The University of Western Australia,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,22742,51465,170163,137,215990,215989,46786,514,215988],"class_list":{"0":"post-407486","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-body-image","11":"tag-eating-disorders","12":"tag-gender-dysphoria","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-healthcare-equity","15":"tag-inclusive-treatment","16":"tag-lgbtqia","17":"tag-mental-health","18":"tag-minority-stress"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}