Adonis complex on the rise: 60,000 men in Italy suffer from vigorexia.

Also known as Adonis complex , but also as reverse anorexia , "although the latter is a misleading term, vigorexia is a form of profound discomfort related to body image , recognized in the DSM-5 (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) as a specification of body dysmorphic disorder related to the distorted perception of one's body in which the person sees himself physically weak or less muscular than he actually is. And the arrival of summer, with its load of expectations for the physique to be shown off on the beach, can only emphasize a disorder that, in Italy, is estimated to affect over 60,000 people (data from the Institute of Clinical Physiology), predominantly men and boys, aged between 19 and 35, and with an incidence of over 10% among bodybuilders. However, the real figure is probably much higher as many people never receive a diagnosis." This is the focus of a study by Lilac-Centro Dca, an Italian organization founded with the aim of creating an innovative model for the treatment of eating disorders.

"Vigorexia is a disorder with multifactorial etiology," explains Giuseppe Magistrale, psychotherapist and co-founder and CEO of Lilac-Centro Dca. "Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't originate from social media or gyms, but from a complex intertwining of psychological, biological, and cultural factors. Social media certainly amplifies and normalizes the obsession with physical performance and a hyper-muscular body, but it's not the sole cause."

Vigorexia feeds on the deep wounds that lurk in people's self-esteem. In many cases, in fact, the body becomes a language, a way to communicate strength where one has experienced powerlessness, to build armor where one has felt vulnerable. Often, there is a history of painful subjective experiences—such as ridicule, exclusion, bullying, failure—that find an apparent, even very risky, response in body control. All of this translates into an increasingly extreme male aesthetic model," continues the analysis by Lilac-Centro Dca.

"Bodies once considered ideal, like Brad Pitt's in Fight Club, to name just one example," adds Filippo Perotto, co-founder of Lilac-Centro Dca, "are now ridiculed online and described as too small or not big enough. Social media, memes, and viral videos have fostered a rhetoric that derides those who don't reach a certain muscular standard —contributing to the internalization of a self-image as inadequate or a failure." This culture is now widespread in gyms, "where workouts are taken to the extreme, language takes on a typically militarized and hyper-performative tone, and perfectly trained bodies are ironically labeled 'skinny.'" This entire set of practices very often masks a very serious underlying discomfort, which is often mistaken for 'dedication' to training," the analysis notes.

" Men suffering from vigorexia thus find themselves caught in a double invisibility ," explains Magistrale, psychotherapist and co-founder and CEO of Lilac-Centro Dca. "On the one hand, they struggle to acknowledge their own discomfort due to the stigma attached to mental health, and on the other, the social narrative according to which an obsession with fitness is simply synonymous with discipline, willpower, and virility. This can have very serious consequences, such as social isolation, overload injuries, substance use, eating disorders, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and even the risk of suicide."

" It's not enough to just surface the phenomenon ," Perotto concludes. "We need a collective reflection on the culture of the male body, and clinical care that takes into account all its facets. Effective treatment requires an integrated approach: psychotherapy, nutritional support, medical monitoring, and above all, a safe space where we can rethink personal value beyond appearances. Only in this way can we build a culture capable of embracing male vulnerability, rather than hiding it behind a muscular armor."