Pro Ana Sites - Now are they Helpful?

http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/24/can-pro-anorexia-websites-help-heal-some-eating-disorders/ 

Can Pro-Anorexia Websites Help Heal Some Eating Disorders?

They're widely considered harmful and restricted online, but "pro-ana" blogs may provide the kind of social support that some anorexics need to recover

By Maia Szalavitz | @maiasz | August 24, 2012

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/24/can-pro-anorexia-websites-help-heal-some-eating-disorders/#ixzz25DsrdlY0 

Websites and blogs that support anorexia — known as pro-ana sites — have been widely banned online by the likes of Pinterest, Yahoo and Tumblr. For anyone who’s ever visited a pro-ana site, the reason is clear: the content exchanged in these online communities is often shocking. They use images of emaciated models and celebrities as “thinspiration” for vulnerable girls, and include frank discussions on the best methods for achieving extreme weight loss.
Anorexia is the most deadly of all psychiatric disorders, and pro-ana websites can be especially distressing to family members and friends of those who are suffering from it. But it is precisely because anorexia is so devastating — and so stigmatized — that such websites may be a boon to some of those who visit them. Like similar groups for addicted people who are not ready to give up drugs, they can provide a rare source of nonjudgmental support for people with eating disorders.
According to Daphna Yeshua-Katz, a doctoral student at Indiana University who co-authored a new study on pro-ana sites appearing in the journal Health Communication, a close look at these sites reveals certain benefits: behind the exhortations to achieve bodily perfection or to glorify an often-fatal psychiatric illness, there are communities of people, mainly women, who understand one another’s demons. These communities provide an anonymous, judgment-free place for sufferers to talk about their struggles with a highly stigmatized disorder for which few effective treatments are available.
(MORE: Defining Recovery in Anorexia — and Addiction)
For her new study, Yeshua-Katz interviewed 33 pro-ana bloggers. “Out of 300 bloggers we contacted, 33 were willing to be interviewed,” says Yeshua-Katz. She says that the highly controversial nature of the sites and the bloggers’ fears of their real identities being revealed kept many from participating. Because the sample was not random, the findings cannot be applied to all pro-ana bloggers, but they offer a rare insight into a hidden world.
“They were going online first of all to find support,” Yeshua-Katz explains, noting that having an eating disorder is a very isolating experience. As with drug addiction, people with anorexia typically cannot discuss their condition or their feelings about it with loved ones without immediately being challenged to change. “The Internet is a very good place for people to find support from similar others,” she says.
As one blogger told the authors: “There was no one in my life that I could speak to openly about what I was feeling and experiencing. I wanted to have a voice that I didn’t have to censor for fear of upsetting people I knew or having them judge me.”
The bloggers also saw their sites as a means of self-expression. “They wanted a venue where they could express themselves without judgment,” says Yeshua-Katz.


Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/24/can-pro-anorexia-websites-help-heal-some-eating-disorders/#ixzz25Dt9ARtr

Going To a Doctor for Disordered Eating

I recently made a new friend I’ll call JH who said she was ready to see her doctor but she kept chickening out. She asked me for my advice on what to say to the doctor; here’s what I had to say.
First stop – psychologist, not a medical doctor.
Now don’t freak out over this thought and start worrying about what everyone will think about you visiting a shrink (who really gives a rip about this at this point since your life is in total shambles, plus screw ‘em, if they want to judge you so be it) The basis of your eating disorder is the way you think and the sooner you own up to this the better (and just an FYI in case you don’t know a Psychologist can not prescribe medicine, he/she would have you see a Psychiatrist for those needs).
Update 10/7/10 Reminder: mamaV is not a professional, nor do I claim to be.
I am not stating an ED sufferer should not go to a medical doctor. It is my opinion that a psychologist is an appropriate first step, with the next step being a medical doctor. The truth is that many of us end up in the ER or in a medical doctor’s office due to our physical condition, so in many cases the sufferer does not have a choice. However, when faced with a choice, I believe many medical doctors do more harm than good if they are not trained in eating disorders, leaving sufferers with questions about their illness & diagnosis. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard from individuals who are told to simply go home and start eating. Wow. Now that is great professional advice.
Would I go so far to say that eating disorders are 100% mental illness?


Absolutely. Medical issues are the side effect of our mental condition, and yes, at some point they should be evaluated by a medical doctor, but I would not recommend it as your first stop (unless of course you pass out in school from dehydration, keel over with a heart attack when exercising, or succumb to any other of the lovely ways girls tend to go down with this beastly condition).
Oh, that’s right. That will never happen to YOU right?
Heard it tons of times girls, don’t kid yourself for a minute that your body is somehow strong enough to take your punishment. I thought this too when I was a teen and 20 something, and now I realize what an incredible, stupid risk I was taking with myself. I thank God nothing happened to me, and that I didn’t do any permanent damage to my body that I am aware of, except for a herniated disc in my back from over exercise. But I remember when I was ready to have kids, I was scared to death I wouldn’t be able to since I didn’t get my period for such a long time. I know TMI.
So get your butt into the shrink and figure out what the heck is going on with you, I’ve got an entire section of the site that provides resources.
Oh…you don’t want to have a mental illness? You worry about the stigma of medication? Tell me about it.
To this day, I get a twinge in my stomach picking up my prescriptions at the pharmacy since I just know the guy is sweet as pie while he is silently eyeing me and the kids up in our mini-van thinking “another doped up housewife popping pills” (I am no housewife, nor am I doped up, but yes – I have to pop quite a few pills to get through the day).
Do I wish it was different?
Do I sometimes wish I could hack it without the drugs?
Truth be told, not really.
Because I’ll tell ya what. Life before drugs SUCKED. And I mean sucked big time. I am never, ever going back there, back to that spinning head, I am a lifer, period.
Back to you and the point of the post, I do think there is a point in here somewhere, oh yeah, here it is in a nutshell;
IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE AN EATING DISORDER, YOU HAVE ONE.
There’s no criteria to meet, there is no weight you need to get to, that’s all just a ball of crap. It’s about what is going on your head, you and I both know that, and a good psychologist is going to get that and he/she will help you get your life back.
Love,
mV
XOXO