Each year, National Eating Disorders Awareness Week — which began Feb. 22 in 2009 — seeks to highlight new challenges and developments for the fight against eating disorders. One of the most recent additions to this list of challenges is the Internet.
Although the Internet has been around for decades, eating disorders were not mainstreamed into forums, blogs and even relatively “safe” sites like Facebook until recently. While some Web sites promote awareness about the presence of eating disorders — known as EDs on the Internet — in today’s society, others perpetuate the idea that an eating disorder is a lifestyle choice rather than a sickness. The latter group of Web sites are created and maintained by an ideologically associated group of ED proponents called “pro-ana” and “pro-mia,” short for pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia.
Though most professionals agree that pro-ana and pro-mia Web sites and online groups are not the sole cause of eating disorders, many also say that the sites can promote unhealthy behaviors such as group fasting and hiding your eating disorder from your family. Already, a distorted body image is increasingly prevalent among adolescents and preadolescents. The International Journal of Eating Disorders recently reported that “42 percent of first through third grade girls want to be thinner.” In this regard, pro-mia and pro-ana sites frequently are regarded by many health experts as potentially harmful, because many of the sites offer advice about low calorie recipes, tips on purging, reasons to be an anorexic or a bulimic person, celebrity “thinspiration” and compulsive exercise information — all of which could emphasize allegedly unhealthy behaviors. A 2004 story released by the BBC quoted Deanne Jade, director of the UK National Centre for Eating Disorders, as saying that the sites are “downright dangerous.”
“Anorexics visiting these sites are dissuaded from seeking help, which is a regrettable thing,” Jade was quoted as saying. “There are people out there who not only dissuade people from getting help, but promote false and dangerous practices on how to lose weight.”
On some pro-ana and pro-mia sites, visitors also can anonymously post their progress with their new lifestyle choice. In one thread on LiveJournal, for example, a girl recently stated that she abused Sudafed to curb her appetite. Another girl, meanwhile, stated that she felt guilty for consuming more than 200 calories that day. Because almost anyone can post on the Internet, sites such as Xanga, LiveJournal, MySpace and Facebook also have become popular outlets for movements like pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia.
Emily Lape, University Counseling and Psychological Services licensed clinical social worker and eating disorder specialist, said she believes that pro-ana and pro-mia Web sites may perpetuate eating disorders, but do not cause them.
Because the sites are said to promote unhealthy habits, some Web sites have started deleting any and all pro-ana and pro-mia pages and posts. On Facebook, there are groups that encourage people to report the groups that promote eating disorder behavior. There also is a large number of anti-pro-ana and anti-pro-mia groups in which people can become involved in the prevention of the pro-ana and pro-mia movement on Facebook. According to Newsweek, Facebook even hires professionals to help find and remove such groups.
“Facebook doesn’t track how often it deletes pro-ana pages, but the groups violate the site’s terms of use by promoting self-harm or harm to others,” Newsweek reported in November 2008.
Many groups, forums and web postings, however, are not recognized as pro-ana or pro-mia sites, simply because they have different names — like “Ana Boot Camp.” Other sites, such as MySpace, allow for eating disorder forums but often track who joins them, and then plant and stream eating disorder help advertisements on profiles and pages, according to a 2008 report by the BBC.
Meanwhile, some also argue that there could be potential benefits to sites and forums like those mentioned above. For instance, pro-ana and pro-mia groups may actually help the afflicted realize their eating disorder and become more open to seeking help for it.
“Finding a pro-ana forum really helped me realize that I [, an anorexic,] wasn’t alone ... that I had support and in some odd way that made me feel less guilty,” said a University student who spoke on a condition of anonymity.
Regardless of whether the sites hurt or help, it should be noted that the casually used labels of “anorexia” and “bulimia” often are misunderstood. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a variety of indicators diagnose anorexia nervosa. The first is a refusal to maintain a body weight more than 85 percent of the minimum normal body weight for the person’s height. An intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted image of what one’s body weight should look like also can be indicators. Other physiological effects may include amenorrhea — the absence of menstruation.
Many people also are unaware of the two different types of anorexics: the restricting anorexic usually eats less than 500 calories a day, while the binge and purge anorexic will consume large quantities of food in short amounts of time and then vomit or use laxatives to make the food pass through his or her system without it getting absorbed.
A bulimic person also binges and purges. Bulimia anorexia, however, is characterized by frequent weight fluctuations of an otherwise normal body weight. Symptoms of bulimia nervosa also include excessive exercising and an unusual concern for body weight and appearance.
“The idea of being thin is to be healthy,” first-year College student Aileen Mavity said. “When you start to see thin as the end-goal instead of the result of leading a healthy lifestyle, [that] is when you start to see serious problems.”
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