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This chapter describes the disordered eating in sport problem and provides a critical overview of research in the area. It offers specific insights into how cultural practices in elite sport may be implicated.

In contrast to dominant medical perspectives, disordered eating in sport is discussed as a product of high-performance cultural contexts. The ways that practice commonplace in elite sport might contribute to disordered eating onset and maintenance are described. In turn, I also consider the experiential struggles of athletes with eating disorders and how this relates to dominant discourses in elite sport.

Elite sport culture, with its emphasis on surveillance, sacrifice, and success, reinforces disordered eating practices. Much of what is conventionally considered disordered eating, can be normalized when situated in the context of high-performance sport. Nevertheless, when functional disordered eating slides into mental illness, the mental toughness ethos works to silence and stigmatize athletes.

Research must broaden its focus to explore how social practices in elite sport normalize disordered eating and how prevention approaches can become more culturally informed and less individually driven.

To explore the discursive construction of disordered eating and athlete identity meanings within elite female athlete’s stories. Published athlete autobiographies were interrogated as cultural sites of analysis to accomplish this aim.

A critical social constructionist perspective on disordered eating is outlined along with narrative research findings on female athletes and disordered eating. A discursive psychological approach and critical discourse analysis (CDA) is then discussed to theorize and study meanings of disordered eating and athlete identities/subject positions. Next, the utility of studying two elite female athlete’s autobiographies is outlined followed by examples from a CDA of two athlete stories.

Two discourses and two identity/subject positions within each are outlined: discourse of performance and the “committed, controlled athlete” and a discourse of personal growth and the “empowered athlete in transition.” The features of each discourse and subject position are outlined and examples from each athlete’s story. The intention is to show the ways in which discursive resources construct the body, food and identities in sport and the implications.

The chapter is concluded with why studying “disordered eating and body talk” within discourses is useful to expand understanding of constraining and emancipative aspects of athlete identities, struggle and recovery.

Eating disorders are common in sporting populations. They have an adverse effect on athletic performance and can represent a serious health problem. Many practitioners who work with athletes require guidance on how best to respond to these problems. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of what can be done to address the problem of eating disorders in a high performance sports environment.

Three clinicians (a psychiatrist, dietitian and psychologist) with many years experience of working in a sports environment were tasked with drafting guidelines relevant to elite sport in consultation with a senior sports physician. The group met on three occasions and corresponded by e‐mail over a 15‐month period. Existing guidelines and literature were reviewed and adapted to the UK high performance sports environment. The guideline was targeted at all practitioners, including coaches, who work in this setting and comments were invited from national sports institutes and governing bodies before the document was finalised.

The guideline summarises current best practice in the prevention of eating disorders in a sports environment. Screening processes are described alongside the necessary response to a positive screen. Advice on accessing therapy and returning to sport during recovery is also provided. Finally guidance is given on how and when to de‐select athletes who are ill.

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of what can be done to address the problem of eating disorders in a high performance sports environment. It provides practical suggestions and guidance on principles rather than a definitive response to every eventuality in an area that is often difficult and complex.

The potential problems of Kho-Kho players have been less studied. Considering eating disorders a public health problem, but also in particular for athletes, as it can cause serious health and performance decrements if left unmonitored. This study aims to determine the prevalence of disordered eating attitude and their relationship with mental health among Indian Kho-Kho players.

Fifty-two male Kho-Kho players aged 16–31 years were assessed for disordered eating attitude using Eating Attitude Test (EAT)-26 and mental health using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and t-test were computed to know the difference between positive and negative disordered eating attitude.

The disordered eating attitude was prevalent among 11.5% of players. The players with disordered eating attitudes showed a significantly (p < 0.01) higher score for EAT-26 subscales related to dieting and oral control. Players were involved in binging (21.2%), purging (5.8%), use of laxatives (1.9%), extra exercise (>1 h) (34.6%) and lost >20 pounds of body weight in the last six months (13.5%). Depression, anxiety and stress were higher in the group with a disordered eating attitude. However, a significant difference (p < 0.01) was found only for depression.

The disordered eating attitude was present among Kho-Kho Players and linked with depression. Health care service providers are encouraged to monitor and guide the players with disordered eating attitudes to take active measures to ensure optimum health and performance.

The present paper provides evidence of disordered eating attitude linked with depression among Kho-Kho players.

To examine some of the complex relationships that exist between sports work and mental health and illness.

This chapter draws upon prevalence data, athlete testimonies, and theoretical works to examine: (1) the prevalence of depression and suicide in professional sport and the wider society; (2) athlete experiences of depression and suicidal ideation, particularly among men; and (3) some of the key sociological ideas which might help to explain experiences of mental health and illness in professional sports work.

Although there are plentiful data on the societal prevalence of depression and suicide, increasing interest in the mental health of professional athletes (and other types of sports workers) has occurred largely in response to individual or clusters of often publicly known, sometimes high profile, cases rather than in response to systematic empirical grounded data. Athlete experiences of mental illness are shown to be related in complex ways to various constraints associated with their public and private lives, to the constraints of their interdependency networks, and to experiences of shame which can have a series of deleterious acute and chronic health costs.

Since much of what is currently known about the links between sports work and mental health and illness is derived from largely psychological studies and media-led or autobiographical accounts, more sociological research is needed to better understand the costs of mental health of working in often very public and highly pressurized, medicalized, scientized, and performance-focused performance sport settings.

This paper aims to in the modern world, possessing an attractive appearance is often considered a highly valued attribute. As such, the perceptions and satisfaction with one’s body are shaped by dominant cultural norms. Adolescents, women in particular, who are heavily influenced by media representations, may tend to have a distorted body image (BI), including adopting extreme dieting methods. This study reviews the adverse effects of excessive weight loss associated with this.

The authors searched journals and the internet for relevant literature using the keywords “eating disorders”, “body image” and “weight stigma”. In the case study field, they added papers that considered “nutrition” to identify the link between dieting behaviour and nutrition. From these reviews, the authors ultimately selected 190 articles that appeared to meet their research objectives. The papers cover a range of studies published between 1995 and 2023.

Among adolescent girls and young women in their early 20s, there is a social media-driven culture of being extremely thin and petite. Weight stigma puts more pressure on them and makes strange behaviours like pro-ana syndrome a part of the culture. The authors have seen that modern BI standards leave young women vulnerable to eating disorders caused by excessive dieting.

Adolescence is a time of continuous growth, so balanced nutrition is essential. However, biased societal standards of beauty can push adolescent girls who are sensitive to external gaze into excessive dieting and make eating disorders a culture. This review provides a perspective on the behaviours that should be pursued for a healthy BI.