Anabolic steroids are powerful drugs that can increase strength and body weight quickly. They are illegal without a doctor's prescription and are banned from athletics. Steroid use puts athletes at risk of being thrown out of competition, and it can cause a multitude of health problems -- even death. Despite the dangers, many people -- both men and women -- use steroids to achieve an ideal body or success in sports. In Steroids, Sports, and Body Image: The Risks of Performance-Enhancing Drugs, author Judy Monroe describes what steroids are, how they work, and why people misuse them. She highlights the disastrous effects of steroid use and steps that have been taken to curb it. And she offers an alternative for young people -- drug-free training tips to help them achieve athletic success in a healthy way. Book jacket.

This innovative edited collection brings together leading international academics to explore the use of various non-prescription and prescription substances for the purpose of perceived body image enhancement. While studies on drug misuse to date have examined drug use in the context of sporting performance, addiction, and body image for particular groups such as bodybuilders, there has been little research that explores the wider use (and misuse) of legal and illegal drugs for body image development and weight loss. With medical sociology and social psychology at its core, this important volume shows the complex reasons behind the misuse of various medications, how these are connected to contemporary body image and appearance concerns, and why the known health risks and possibly harmful side effects do not act as deterrents.

Growing numbers of young men are taking the quest for perfect muscles, skin and hair too far, crossing the line from normal interest to pathological obsession. For the first time, three of the world's leading authorities on men help us to understand and combat the frightening set of compulsive behaviours that make up the Adonis Complex. Combining colourful case studies with scientific research, they reveal a threat that is as serious as the beauty myth for women or anorexia nervosa for girls. The symptoms of this dangerous body obsession, excessive workouts, steroid abuse, eating disorders and body and muscle dysmorphic disorder (distorted body perception), lead to problems with sex and intimacy, relationships and work. In teenagers, the Adonis Complex can interfere with healthy emotional and physical development. Until now, frank discussion of this problem has been virtually taboo. At last we can hear what men really think and feel about their bodies, so that those who suffer in silence will no longer need to suffer alone.

This text presents research findings on the use and abuse of steroids in sports and exercise, and information on steroid use within professional sports and among Olympic athletes. In addition, information on drug use among international student athletes, adolescents and body builders is explored.

The mind-body connection is one of the hottest topics in medicine today, documented by enormous amounts of data regarding hormone effects on the brain and behavior. Yet it is only now -- with the debut of this thought-provoking volume -- that we find an up-to-date, sophisticated reference that focuses on the clinical relevance of behavioral endocrinology and is written for practicing clinicians and researchers. This wide-ranging volume shows how the principles and emerging findings of psychoneuroendocrinology can inform modern clinical practice and lead to new breakthroughs in future science and practice. Here, leading authorities -- internationally respected researchers and practicing clinicians -- review empirical findings in their areas of expertise, highlight the clinical significance of these findings, and provide, wherever appropriate, clinical guidelines for the management of patients. Beginning with a lively history of psychoneuroendocrinology (including its many false starts), this book continues on to discussions of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hormone system, the gonadal hormone system, and the thyroid hormone system from each of the three paths generally used for psychoneuroendocrinological investigation: Alterations in endogenous hormone levels observed in primary psychiatric illness Psychiatric concomitants or sequelae of hormonal dysregulation in primary endocrinologic illness Behavioral effects of exogenously administered hormones or hormone antagonists (both the study of the side effects of hormonal medications and the use of hormones and hormone antagonists as psychotropic medications) An unmatched diversity of topics reveals the full breadth and depth of this volume: diabetes mellitus, corticosteroid effects on mood and cognition, Cushing's syndrome and Addison's disease, oral contraceptives and estrogen replacement therapy, psychiatric illness associated with the menstrual cycle and perimenopause, postpartum behavioral changes, anabolic/androgenic steroid use, and a thorough review of thyroid function in psychiatric disorders. Particularly fascinating are sections on the role of neuropeptides and hypothalamic-releasing factors in psychiatric illness, the use of laboratory tests and imaging procedures in evaluating hormonal function in psychiatric patients, the place of newer "alternative" hormonal medications such as melatonin and DHEA in therapeutics, and a provocative and compelling final chapter on the role stress plays in precipitating illness. Designed for both clinician and researcher-scientist, this richly informative guide will also prove an invaluable addition to graduate courses in neuroscience, neuroendocrinology, the biological basis of behavior, and consultation psychiatry. Neuroscientists/neurologists, endocrinologists, obstetricians/gynecologists, internists, family practitioners, nurses, and interested laypersons round out the wide audience for this remarkable volume.

This book is about gym culture, the pursuit of fit, muscular bodies and the use of drugs as a means to get there. Building on the international research literature and in-depth interviews with men who have experience of image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs), the book explores the fascination with muscles, motivations for using drugs to enhance them, assessments of risks, and experience of side effects. The book examines what the altered body does to the men’s identity, self-image and relationships with peers and partners. Taking an evolutionary psychological approach, it also investigates the biological and psychological foundations of the fascination with the muscular body and discusses the notion of precarious manhood. Building on these analyses the book considers the political and regulatory initiatives in place to prevent the use of IPEDs and assesses those strategies’ potential to reach their aims. This is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the issue of drugs in sport, the ethics of sport, sociology of sport, sociology of the body, masculinity or public health.

In the pursuit of more muscle, enhanced strength, sustained endurance and idealised physiques, an increasing number of elite athletes, recreational sport enthusiasts and body-conscious gym-users are turning to performance and image enhancing drugs and substances (PIEDS). In many instances, such use occurs with little regard for the health, social and economic consequences. This book presents a nuanced, evidence-based examination of PIEDS. It provides a classification of PIEDS types, physical impacts, rates of use, user profiles, legal and sporting status, and remedial program interventions, covering both elite and recreational use. It offers the perfect guide to assist students, government policy makers and sport managers in understanding the complex issues surrounding PIEDS consumption.

Offering a concise account of the most appropriate and efficient procedures for analyzing data from queries dealing with sensitive and confidential issues- including the first book-length treatment of infinite and finite population set-ups - this volume begins with the simplest problems, complete with their properties and solutions, and proceeds to incrementally more difficult topics. Randomized Response is mandatory reading for statisticians and biostatisticians, market researchers, operations researchers, pollsters, sociologists, political scientists, economists and advanced undergraduate and graduate students in these areas.

This BMA report discusses the current situation regarding performance enhancing drugs as well as the effects of prescribed medication on sports people's performance. Written with expert advice, and rigorously reviewed by specialists, the report addresses the physician's role and responsibilities in this highly sensitive area. It will prove an invaluable guide for all doctors who are involved with the well being of sports people.