Where do you run to for help?

“Pro-anorexia” has been floating around for several years, with both negative and positive reviews giving the term a notorious connotation. Coincidentally, I have been studying the single largest Pro-Anorexia community on the web for a year; it was one of the things that helped me make my decision to go into psychology. I made the decision to watch Pro-Anorexia in an attempt to understand the mindset of someone suffering from anorexia, bulimia, ED-NOS, or a variation of all the eating disorders.

1.To my knowledge, the Pro-anorexia community has been active for a few years, allowing boys and girls of any age to join and get support from people suffering from eating disorders. One of the biggest issues, in my opinion, that spawned from the web-site is: what is support to a person suffering from an eating disorder, and how far should that support go? The community name already sends a bad vibe, regardless of its intentions. “Pro-Anorexia” projects the idea that there are people in this world who support the actions and lifestyle of an individual suffering from an eating disorder. Nearly everyone is aware of the devastating effects of eating disorders, including the psychological and physiological traumas. What sensible person would promote such behavior? Whether individuals suffering from eating disorders abhor the lifestyle they must deal with, “Pro-Anorexia” is not a term that should be thrown around so carelessly in society. While searching through the community, I noticed several times that members would post with tips or ask for tips about how to lose a certain amount of weight, the number of calories in certain foods, and other things related to body image and weight. For example, a member on the popular Pro-Anorexia community posted:

“i heard that taking omega3 fish oil 45mins prior to ur workout, u burn more fat, is this true????”

While this may seem slightly harmless, one has to take into account how many people will catch onto this idea or habit. If that is one tip being handed out, how many more tips can be processed by one person? I have also noticed an alarming number of people posting images of thin models, celebrities, and normal people. The members of the site call these supposed muses, Thinspo. Now, there is nothing wrong with admiring a person’s body, but when one compliments a person on his or her ribs that stick disgustingly out of the chest, then that’s a bit of an issue. The posting of Thinspo can promote destructive behavior from anyone suffering from the disease, as well as people who are in the process of recovering from eating disorders. A member on the site had posted:

31 January 2009 @ 03:23 pm
sorry to be a post whore
some thinspo to get you all through the day =]


( thinspo )

Alarmingly, members on Pro-Anorexia are as young as eleven; at that age, many children can pick up on habits easily. Imagine a young teen catching wind of the tips older members are handing out or discussing. The disorder will intensify until there is little hope left for that child to be recovered before he or she is an adult.

Despite the idea that the site is used as a safe-haven for these people, I don’t buy the idea that it offers a suitable amount of support and stability. There are other reasonable places to seek help and care.

2.With a name like “Pro-Anorexia”, it’s hard to imagine that a community could be the safest places for someone who is stricken with one of the most misunderstood psychological disorders in the world. At first, I was completely against sites that cold condone the behaviors of an anorexic or bulimic person; that was before I actually became witness to how people interact in the community. I can’t deny that Pro-Anorexia gains a bad reputation because of its name, but I can say with an honest heart that the community is far from evil.

In an unforgiving world such as ours, I can imagine that this would be a lonely place for someone with an eating disorder. It’s hard to comprehend why an anorexic person doesn’t eat, or why a bulimic person can’t keep control his or her urges to purge food that was just eaten. Pro-Anorexia does not offer those answers, but it does offer a community where everyone is alike. The judgment and ridicule is scarce on the site. There are times when members will randomly post their encouragement and hope that the other members will feel well, like this post from a member:

25 January 2009 @ 05:58 pm
Because everyboody needs love ...

*hugs*
It seems like quite a few people here tonight could do with a hug
so i thought I'd attempt to give everyone one
^_^

xXx

Pro-anorexia has become a community of friendship and support for the boys and girls who join it. I have seen posts where girls will seek advice about familial issues and how to gain the attention of a boy. Everyone needs to know that he or she is understood and wanted; while eating disorders are difficult to grasp, we cannot forget that the people suffering from them are just as like anyone else. Pro-anorexia should remain despite its down moments; to some, the community is the only place they can call home.

3.Regardless of the viewpoints in the previous paragraphs, the only viewpoint I ever had for pro-anorexia has always been in middle ground. I had stated above that I have been studying the community and its members for a year, and doing so has formed an opinion unlike the two I had to write. When I first heard of Pro-Anorexia, I formed an immediate opinion based off the name and what it means by default. I’m not sure what drove me to research the community at that time, but I realized that it was a better way of understanding someone with the disease rather forming an opinion that I knew was completely biased. I never enjoyed having one-sided opinions on an issue, and after a couple of days, Pro-Anorexia began to open my eyes to eating disorders. The first thing I realized was that the site wasn’t what the name suggested. Pro-Anorexia wasn’t about promoting the lifestyle that an eating disorder brings. Instead, the community was a place for someone to find comfort and support from another person like him or her. When I noticed the direction of the community, I realized that no one truly understood what Pro-Anorexia was, except for the people who were on the site and had an eating disorder.

The first thing I observed had been the number of people who posted with every day issues, whether it was related to an eating disorder or difficulties at school. Pro-anorexia is a place for someone to find another person to talk to without the fear of being judged. I found a member had posted:

25 January 2009 @ 08:45 pm


i have a confession to make.

i have no idea what the fuck a pop tart is. americans always talk about them and they sound yummy!

enlighten me?

In the community, the mentioning of the pop tart would have been blanked out. The good thing about Pro-Anorexia is that the community takes itself seriously. While members are given the freedom to act normally among other members, the admins and moderators have established rules so that the community is run smoothly. The rules always explain details of how to post on the site so that no one has his or her disorder triggered by something another member has posted.

http://community.livejournal.com/proanorexia/profile#rules

The link I posted contains every rule for the site. Whatever the aim of Pro-Anorexia, the site makes sure never to promote the lifestyle, behaviors, and attitudes that are associated with an eating disorder. The community is a safe-haven and a home for many, but the main, underlying hope is that everyone will recover in due time.

Despite the understanding I have gained of how someone with an eating disorder thinks, I can’t get over certain aspects of the site and its members. I often find posts by members asking questions about calories and exercise habits that feed the psychological mess that is an eating disorder. It’s hard to ignore that members will always be triggered by the site and other members together:

24 January 2009 @ 02:28 pm
this website is great to find different workouts & how many calories are burned!!! It is great :) http://www.fatburn.com/free_tool_activity_burn.asp


With its ups and downs, Pro-Anorexia has taught me more about eating disorders than a book could have. I cannot say that I completely understand the mindset of someone with anorexia, bulimia, or ED-NOS, but I can say that I will never judge someone for their disease. Also, the site helped me to understand certain things about myself and the body dysmorphia issues that I have experienced and continue to experience at times. There is more to the eating disorder than meets the eye, and it’s safer to say that it is more of a psychological issue than a physiological disease. The beginnings of an eating disorder are different for each person, but I’ve noticed that there is always a control factor that stays with the person throughout the disorder. What I have learned most is how devastating the disorders can be; the community has show members in their rarest and rawest forms, and I have seen how fragile lives can become after suffering through years of turmoil. I would never want Pro-Anorexia to be abolished because of the safety it gives its members. Even if half of them are tempted to never recover, there is always a feeling of home that the members will have with Pro-Anorexia. However, if there is one thing I can change about the community, I would abolish the term Pro-Anorexia for something that makes a little more sense to me: Pro-Support.