ArticleFrontiers in psychology2021
Enhancing the Self: Amateur Bodybuilders Making Sense of Experiences With Appearance and Performance-Enhancing Drugs.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exercise Selection and Common Injuries in Fitness Centers: A Systematic Integrative Review and Practical Recommendations.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence of anabolic steroid users seeking support from physicians: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Non-medical use of exogenous testosterone and anabolic-androgenic substances in young men: health, psychological, and fertility consequences.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
- Self-confidence and body image among adults engaged in daily bodybuilding exercise compared with non-exercising adults: a case-control study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Muscle Dysmorphia, Obsessive-Compulsive Traits, and Anabolic Steroid Use: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Managing risks and harms associated with the use of anabolic steroids: a qualitative study.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Cosmetic Outcomes of the First Bodybuilder Using a Low-Cost Modified Culture Technique for Burn Wound Coverage: A Case Report and Long-Term Follow-Up.European burn journal · 2025Article
- Review
- Hydration Strategies and Body Composition Differences in Male and Female Elite Bodybuilders During Competition.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Profile of gym-goers who do not use performance-enhancement substances.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Bodybuilding: A Comprehensive Review of Performance-Enhancing Substance Use and Public Health Implications.Cureus · 2023Review
- Appearance and performance factors associated with muscle building supplement use and favourable attitudes towards anabolic steroids in adolescent boys.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- No association between psychiatric symptoms and doses of anabolic steroids in a cohort of male and female bodybuilders.Drug testing and analysis · 2022Article
- Toxicological Characterization of GHB as a Performance-Enhancing Drug.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In this paper, we implemented a methodological framework of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and a theoretical conceptualization of multiple selves to explore the subjective accounts of six amateur bodybuilders using appearance- and performance-enhancing drugs (APEDs). The participants made sense of their bodybuilding careers and experiences with APEDs in a way that showed a multiplicity and complexity of reasons for using APEDs, which stemmed from tensions they perceived between the context of bodybuilding and other life domains. The participants' reasons for the use of APEDs included not only enhancing their body, appearance and performance but also enhancing other subjectively important psychological characteristics, such as agency and self-control, the development of knowledge and expertise, sense of meaning, well-being, and quality of life. In the analysis, we integrated these themes through the concept of the "extraordinary self," based on which our participants strived for self-actualization through bodybuilding and the use of APEDs. In the sense making of our participants, a potential "exit point" subverting their APED use emerged from a tension between such "extraordinary selves" and the "ordinary selves" through which they perceived APEDs as preventing them from living normal, balanced lives outside the context of bodybuilding. However, success in balancing the two selves also created the possibility of the future use of APEDs.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.