Hashtag Recovery: #Eating Disorder Recovery on Instagram

Abstract

Abstract:People who have experienced eating disorders are making sense of and managing their own health and recoveries, in part by engaging with digital technologies. We analyzed 1056 images related to eating disorder recovery posted to Instagram using the hashtags #EDRecovery, #EatingDisorderRecovery, #AnorexiaRecovery, #BulimiaRecovery and #RecoveryWarrior to explore user performances of eating disorder recovery. We situated our analysis in a critical Deleuzian feminist frame, seeking to understand better how users represented, negotiated, or contested dominant constructions of "how to be recovered". We identified a number of themes: A Feast for the Eyes, Bodies of Proof, Quotable, and (Im)Perfection. Within each of these themes, we observed links to social location, including the White, Western, middle-to-upper-class trappings that tether representations of eating disorder recovery to stereotypes about who gets eating disorders and may restrict access to the category of recovered. Documenting recovery online may be a way for those in recovery to chart progress and interact with similar others. However, recoveries presented on Instagram resemble stereotypical perspectives on who gets eating disorders and, thus, who might recover, subtly reinforcing a dominant recovery biopedagogy. These versions of recovery may not be available to all, limiting the possibility of engagement for people enacting and embodying diverse recoveries. Still, users make representational interventions into Instagram by making the struggles and challenges of eating disorder recovery visible to each other and to broader audiences.

An open invitation to productive conversations about feminism and the spectrum of eating disorders (part 2): Potential contributions to the science of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention

“…People in recovery may present particularized versions of recovery that align only somewhat or not at all with broader discourses, not only about “proper” health, but also, for instance, “proper” femininity, gender identity, sexuality, and/or ethnicity [ 20 , 75 ]. Taking a critical feminist approach allows us to dig deeper into how such representations might play into overt and subtle exhortations for the management of health that serve to keep people small, “in control,” “nice,” and so forth.…”

Anorexia and Young Womens’ Personal Networks: Size, Structure, and Kinship

“…Some papers demonstrate that these connections may worsen their health condition because the members of these communities can motivate each other toward extreme weight loss, as in pro-ana communities, which treat anorexia as a manageable lifestyle ( Rodgers et al, 2012 ; Mento et al, 2021 ; Osler and Krueger, 2021 ; Nova et al, 2022 ). At the same time, online communities comprising people with anorexia who support personal recovery exist, such as pro-recovery communities that encourage people with anorexia to get treatment and may help them improve their health ( Branley and Covey, 2017 ; Lamarre and Rice, 2017 ; Kenny et al, 2019 ). Additionally, the personal networks of people with anorexia might include health workers such as psychologists or psychiatrists ( Quiles Marcos and Terol Cantero, 2009 ; Tubaro and Mounier, 2014 ; Pallotti et al, 2018 ).…”

Reflective functioning and personal recovery process of users with borderline personality disorder on Instagram: an explorative study using computerized and thematic analysis

“…Furthermore, some social media platforms seem to emerge as alternatives to pro-anorexia websites, which promote instead a collective identity based on symptoms (Smahelova, Drtilova, Smahel, & Cevelicek, 2019). Therefore, social media platforms can allow access to a subjectively constructed view of phenomena like PR in people with mental illness (Lamarre & Rice, 2017). For example, Instagram is a popular image based social network site (SSN) launched in 2010; Instagram-based research has been increasing over the past few years, and studies of mental health-related issues on these platforms has become more frequent (Bogolyubova, Upravitelev, Churilova, & Ledovaya, 2018).…”

“…To our knowledge, no studies analyzed the PR process of BPD individuals in online narratives shared on social media platforms. We suggest here that narratives shared online may be useful to analyze the PR of people with a mental illness (Lamarre & Rice, 2017), including BPD.…”