“Bigorexia” Pushed on Social Media

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Season 1 | Episode 51

Young men wanting to be muscle influencers but using performance enhancement drugs say they are suffering from “bigorexia” or muscle dysmorphia.  Is social media to blame? 

According to a recent study from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, there have been 420 million views of videos on Tik Tok pushing steroids to teens.   Some experts say that trend is creating young men to develop "bigorexia," or muscle dysmorphia. Senior anchor for News on Merit Street investigates on how easy it is for teens to order illegal performance enhancement drugs online. Ryan says he was able to get these drugs online when he started bodybuilding to follow in his father, Shawn’s, footsteps.  He started posting his journey online and developed a huge following.  At just 16 years old, Ryan says his muscle gains plateaued.  So he found another way to get to superhero status until he went blind.  Plus, we meet Colton who says he’s using steroids now and looking to launch himself to internet stardom at whatever cost. But his fiancée Alex says she wants Colton to stop using steroids because it turns him into an angry person full of rage.  And Callum Hood, head researcher at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, tells Dr. Phil about the study he led focusing on how Tik Tok videos promote steroid-like drugs.   And Dr. Thomas O’Connor is a board-certified doctor of internal medicine and professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He's also known as the “Anabolic Doc” who knows firsthand what it’s like to be addicted to performance enhancement drugs.