Pro‐eating disorder websites: facts, fictions and fixes

Abstract

Purpose -Pro-eating disorder websites are online communities of individuals who do not consider eating disorders to be serious mental illnesses requiring treatment. People visit these websites to meet other like-minded individuals, to share tips and tricks on how to lose weight and how to otherwise maintain the symptomatology of the disorder. This paper aims to review what is actually known about the risks associated with visiting these websites and provides recommendations for dealing with pro-eating disorder material.Design/methodology/approach -Relevant peer-reviewed papers were located by means of searching three online journal databases (SCOPUS, PubMed, Web of Knowledge), and through carrying out reference checking. Key words for the search were: pro-anorexia, pro-ana, pro-bulimia, pro-mia and pro-eating disorders.Findings -Pro eating disorder websites are common and visited by a significant proportion of patients with eating disorders and non-patients. The sites may be perceived beneficial, as they provide support and a sense of community. Although there is evidence for the harmfulness of pro-eating disorder content on the internet, there is no clear indication that such sites promote the development or maintenance of eating disorders. Therefore, banning pro eating disorder websites seems inappropriate and unpractical, but measures for web-hosting companies should be in place allowing them to remove such content. Instead, bodies creating alternative websites for young people should be supported. Clinicians and parents should be made aware of the existence of pro eating disorder websites and how to deal with them.Originality/value -This paper provides an overview of the research in this field and discusses possible ways in which health professionals and the general public may respond to the existence of these web sites.

The Maudsley Model of Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA): Development, Key Features, and Preliminary Evidence

“…These beliefs are found in both AN subtypes (Gale, Holliday, Troop, Serpell, & Treasure, 2006). Of note, pro-AN beliefs also find their expression in pro-Ana websites, which endorse AN as a lifestyle choice (Sharpe, Musiat, Knapton, & Schmidt, 2011). Patients often spend a lot of time on pro-Ana sites, thereby reinforcing and strengthening their pro-AN beliefs and clinicians need to be aware of this.…”

Pro-anorexia/bulimia censorship and public service announcements: the price of controlling women

“…These include: bulletin boards, static websites, blog web pages, groups on social network sites, email groups, and instant messaging communities (Boero and Pascoe, 2012). Sharpe et al (2011) provide a succinct summary of the types of content found on pro-eating disorder websites:…”

Self-Presentation Processes in Personal Profiles in a Pro-Anorexia Group

“…These questions are based on previous research on the particular communication strategies identified in pro-ana websites (Boero and Pascoe, 2012;Haas et al, 2011;Riley et al, 2009), the content material of pro-ana sites (Borzekowski et al, 2010;Juarascio et al, 2010;Norris et al, 2006;Sharpe et al, 2011;), the self-presentation strategies on cyberspace (Dominick, 1999;Bortree, 2005;Papacharissi, 2002), and the visual analysis of SNS profiles (Hankock and Toma, 2009;Hum et al, 2011;Kapidzic and Herring, 2011).…”

“…The rapid proliferation of the pro-ana websites, and the potential harm that the material posted on those sites can cause to adolescents and young adults have prompted concern among professionals (see Sharpe et al, 2011), and a harsh condemnatory reaction in the media (see Rouleau and Ranson, 2011), which has led to the dismantlement of many proana websites. As a result, the pro-ana movement is evolving into other platforms, such as Facebook, MySpace or Xanga, in recent years (Juarascio et al, 2010;Whitehead, 2010), and phone applications, such as Instagram (Kenny 2013, Ging & Garvey 2018.…”