Pro-ana sites

Sooner or later, almost every blog dealing with eating disorders must have a discussion about these sites.

There are a lot of sites, groups, forums and communities online for people with eating disorders. These can be divided into two sets. One has all those sites for sufferers trying to recover, with members offering support and advice to each other on how to get better and be happy again. The other set has all those sites for people trying to do "better" with their eating disorder, with members offering support, tips and inspiration to help each other achieve their goal weight and be happy.

There are also plenty that fall somewhere in the middle, with some members of each type.

I will talk about these sets as though they are distinct, but I'm sure there are many examples where the lines blur a little.

Let us consider pro-recovery sites. These are places where eating disorder sufferers can share their experiences and know that they won't be judged. They can talk about their feelings openly. They can get support and advice when they feel depressed. For the vast majority of the users, these places are a great help. I've used them myself because it's easier for me to write about my feelings than talk about them.

Unfortunately, there are those people who use the sites for all the wrong reasons. There are disordered individuals who read accounts of people's experiences and, instead of seeing support, simply see new ideas. They see new methods of eating less or throwing up more or hiding their disorder. These are individuals so caught up in their disorder that they fight to keep it rather than fight to heal it.

In many ways, these people are those most in danger from their eating disorder. Those who join the sites for support have acknowledged that they have a disorder and most of them will be trying, however successfully or not, to fight it. These others are not fighting. Some or all of them may accept on one level that they have a problem, but their actions are to continue with it. Perhaps reading the eating disorder websites will inspire them to try to recover themselves. Or perhaps reading the sites will just gives them ideas for new techniques which put their bodies and minds in danger. There's no way to tell and there's no way to block from viewing the sites those who would take away the wrong information.

So even the best pro-recovery sites may end up hurting some of their users.

Then, at the other end of the spectrum, are the pro-ana sites. These are filled with girls declaring that they're going to start being anorexic because they need to fit into a smaller bikini. There are people on these sites who think it's fun to be anorexic or that an eating disorder will let them lose weight quickly. Most of these users are ignorant of the real affects of eating disorders but they share information with others equally ignorant, so they think they know all they need to. They offer thinspiration to encourage each other to lose weight. They offer tips and tricks on how to perform disordered behaviour.

I read a post on one community where one girl was asking how to make herself throw up. I've been in that girl's position. I remember once after a binge sitting on the bathroom floor and crying about what a failure I was because I couldn't even throw up properly. Right then, I would have loved someone to come to me and tell me how. But now I'm glad I didn't try and ask for tips online, because it meant I couldn't develop another dangerous and addictive habit. I wanted to tell this girl that she should be glad that she wasn't going to be able to destroy her throat and teeth. But several other girls had already replied, offering advice on how to do it.

There are so many people joining these online groups and learning how to behave in a disordered way because they think it's a diet or worse, a game.

I don't believe that reading these sites causes eating disorders. However, there are people who are predisposed to eating disorders because of anxiety, perfectionist tendencies or the physical make-up of their brain. If these people are reading pro-ana sites then it's likely that they've already been worrying about their looks and maybe already started some disordered behaviour patterns. Reading about other girls doing it might be all that's necessary to convince them this is the right way for them to behave. The sites would be the point that tips them over the edge from bad habits to a full disorder.

But on the other hand, there might be someone who feels like a freak because she has a disorder. Then she reads these sites and sees so many other people acting the same way. Maybe that would be enough to convince her she's not the only one and maybe that would help her hate herself less.

Even the worse pro-ana site may end up helping someone with a true disorder.

The pro-ana sites give eating disorders a bad reputation. People see these girls trying to starve themselves because of fashion and they think that's all that eating disorders are. The real illness gets hidden behind a screen of girls going, "OMG! I just ate a chocolate bar. I feel so fat!"

I would love it if some of the worst of these sites were shut down so that it would be easier for people to see the sites offering real advice and information. I would love to find every wannarexic on these sites and point them so some of the pro-recovery places and show them that they should try to be less disordered, not more. But all I can do is add my voice to the crowd of information. Maybe if enough people offer stories of real disorders, the pro-ana cultists will see the truth of what they're doing.

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Anorexic's advice – a site intended for wannarexics, offering the truth about eating disorders, advice on how to lose weight by healthy means and tips for recovery. This is one of the best sites I've found.

lol_anaz – a livejournal community for poking fun at the wannarexics on pro-ana sites. Most of the members of this community have actual disorders and are sick of wannarexics playing for attention. I should stress that this group isn't for making fun of eating disorders or sufferers, just those that think they want a disorder.

ed_friends – another livejournal community. This one is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Most of the members are genuine sufferers after support, but a few are wannarexics looking for tips.

ED friends unite – a forum for genuine disorder sufferers. This site is for people who have a disorder and need support. It's very much pro-recovery and has strict rules against people asking for or posting tips.

Beat – a UK organisation to combat eating disorders. This site contains information about disorders and contact details and helpline numbers. People from all over the world can get support, help or facts. People from the UK can find out about local support and groups.