“I would never want to look at one. I think that would be really depressing to tell you the truth.”
– Mary, Age 14, about Internet pro-anorexia sites
Millions of young girls and women struggle with the eating disorder anorexia. For some, the Internet has become a place of refuge… with websites that offer support of the dangerous sort.
A new study reports that to treat anorexia, a family-based treatment should be the first line of defense.
Yet, what Mary doesn’t want to see, to millions others is just a few key words and mouse clicks away.
“Who’s the skinniest and how can they stay the skinniest (or) here’s how you can have only one thing to eat all day or how you can survive on water and gum,” explains Bryna Livingston, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in eating disorders.
Livingston is referring to pro-anorexia websites – where girls are applauded for losing weight and surviving hunger – that are emerging on the Internet. On many such sites, anorexics journal thoughts and feelings and even post pictures of their thin celebrity idols.
“It’s a pseudo-support group, and the problem is you’re not really getting support,” says Livingston. “You’re feeding a competition. You’re feeding a disease, and you’re feeding what you want to hear so you don’t have to make any changes.”
For Mary, change was hard. She struggled with anorexia for three years. These websites, she says, spell danger. “I think (the websites) could have really made me worse and (made me) fall more into my eating disorder and encouraged me more,” she says. “That’s the last thing I needed was to be encouraged to be in an eating disorder.”
Despite online messages, new research published in the Archives of General Psychiatry reports that the most effective treatment for anorexic teens is family-based, when parents play an active role in helping their child restore a healthy weight – and lifestyle.
Mary’s advice: “Listen to who you trust. Do you trust your family and your friends, or do you trust these people (on the Internet) that you don’t even know that are trying to give you lessons about your life?”
Luckily, Mary avoided the lure of anorexia websites when she was struggling with her illness. After years of therapy and family support, she says she is now healed. “It is possible to recover and to be a healthy girl with a happy life after it all,” she says. “There is hope to get through it.”
What We Need To Know
The medical community classifies eating disorders as mental illnesses. Experts say girls with eating disorders focus on their bodies in a misguided bid to resolve deeper psychological issues, believing that they can fix their inner troubles by achieving a perfect outside.
According to statistics from the National Association of Anorexia and Associated Disorders:
- 91% of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting. 22% dieted “often” or “always.”
- 86% report onset of eating disorder by age 20; 43% report onset between ages of 16 and 20.
- Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents.
- 95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.
- The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate associated with all causes of death for females 15-24 years old.
- Over one-half of teenage girls and nearly one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives.
Many dangerous places exist on the web, especially for those with body image difficulties. A quick, easy Google search can produce a long list of pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia websites – places where those who suffer from eating disorders (ED) support each other and establish a sense of community. There are at least 100 active pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia sites. Some statistics state that several of these sites have accumulated tens of thousands of hits. Many sites treat eating disorders as lifestyle choices, rather than the illnesses they truly are. Most personify anorexia (“Ana”) and bulimia (“Mia”) into companions – individuals one can look to for guidance and strength.
Eating disorder specialists say pro-anorexia sites on the Internet are particularly dangerous since those suffering from the disease are usually in deep denial and cling to the illness to avoid dealing with its psychological underpinnings. Websites that glorify eating disorders make treatment increasingly difficult.
The recovery rate with treatment is about 60 percent, yet only 10 percent of those with eating disorders receive treatment. An anorexia nervosa treatment strategy that promotes parental involvement in restoring an adolescent to healthy weight and eating habits is more effective than traditional individual-based anorexia nervosa therapy, according to new research. The study, recently published in Archives of General Psychiatry, is the first randomized clinical trial to definitively demonstrate that family-based treatment, also known as the Maudsley Approach, is the treatment of choice for this patient population.
Between the ages of 8 and 14, females naturally gain at least 40 pounds, yet more than half of teenage girls are – or think they should be – on diets. Websites were changing the very culture surrounding eating disorders, making them more acceptable to girls on and off the Internet. Pro-ED sites thrive off the denial aspect of the illnesses while promoting the perceived benefits of having an eating disorder.
Pro-ED sites are just one reason why parents need to monitor children’s online behavior. In the web journals or logs (blogs) of these sites, users share near-starvation diets, offer tips for coping with hunger and detail ways to avoid the suspicions of family members. They post “thinspiration” – images from the media of their ideal celebrities and discuss extreme calorie restriction and weight loss through laxatives, diet pills and purging (self-induced vomiting).
Resources
- National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- The National Institute of Mental Health
- Study on Family-Based Treatment
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