Social media fuelling rising anabolic steroid use: Study

New research from Flinders University has exposed an increasing risk of men and adolescent boys using anabolic steroids dangerously, attempting to achieve the types of muscular builds often idealised on social media.
 
The study, led by Flinders University body image experts and published in Psychology of Men & Masculinities journal, says ongoing exposure to this kind of social media content was directly linked with negative body image issues and greater propensity to seek out anabolic-androgenic steroids.
 
But is this a health risk that GPs should be on the look out for? Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Addiction Medicine Dr Hester Wilson told newsGP it’s ‘definitely’ something to be aware of when seeing patients.
 
‘We have found that the rates of, for example, anorexia nervosa have gone up in men, bulimia have gone up in men and this is part of that same thing where people are being targeted and getting the message that the way they look is not good enough,’ she said.
 
Dr Wilson said this cohort might not see the risks involved with their usage but could be exposing themselves to considerable dangers.
 
‘It’s a group of people who may not consider themselves to be drug users,’ she said.
 
‘There’s lots of problems with [these substances]; many of these substances are injected, not necessarily intravenously, they might be muscular, but anything that you inject increases your risk of infection.
 
‘They may not be thinking about the risk of hepatitis or HIV but if you’re sharing needles with someone else, if someone else is showing you how to inject and you’re using the same needle, there’s the risk of blood-borne viruses, and there’s also just the risk of the substance, what is it that you’re accessing?’
 
What GPs need to do, Dr Wilson says, is to start working this topic into their health assessments, especially if they have noticed a significant change in a patient.
 
‘For us as GPs, it’s about being able to have those conversations non-judgementally, but it’s a tricky one because it’s a bit like anorexia, where if somebody comments, “oh my goodness, you’ve lost weight”, that’s a positive,’ she said.
 
‘At the same time, “my gosh, you’re looking well, your muscles are looking really well defined”, then that’s a positive, so it’s one thing of noticing there’s a difference, and then there’s how to approach it.
 
‘The way that I would always go about it, is to say something like, “I'm aware that quite a lot of young guys in particular are concerned about their muscle definition and how they look, and sometimes might use products to help them change, is this something that you’ve done? Is it okay if we talk about this?”.’
 
It’s okay not to know everything, Dr Wilson adds – but she encourages being open to doing more research and keeping the conversation going.
 
‘If we just say anabolic steroids are a dangerous, without any kind of credible evidence or thinking about it, then people are not going to listen to us,’ she said.
 
‘As a GP, we often come across the edge of our expertise or understanding, and it’s okay to acknowledge that and to say, “I’m just a bit concerned but I’m going to do a bit of research and find out a bit more about anabolic steroids”.
 
‘Can you tell me what it is that you’re actually taking so I know what you’re doing? So we can talk about the injecting risks and how to do that more safely.’
 
Dr Hester said there could be other factors at play as well.
 
‘What is happening for this young person that there’s so much of their focus that is going towards looking a certain way? Is there something that sits behind that?’ she said.
 
‘Is this something that we can actually work on, around helping them to be more compassionate towards themselves?’
 
Dr Hester said there are resources out there for GPs and recommends this harm minimization guide.
 
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