EATING DISORDERS- OVERVIEW, CAUSES
& PRO ANA
Eating Disorders Awareness Week
February 27-March 5, 2005
Why deprive oneself of food?
|
Unrealistic Expectations
Funny How we Thin
Definitions ED Overview and causes Parents and Friends Warning Signs Statistics and Risks Trauma and ED Resources Books |
Anorexia often begins with a diet or an intent to
shape up physically. Nobody starts this with the intention of developing
anorexia. However, for the person who becomes anorexic, the dieting and weight
loss take on psychological functions that, although unanticipated and unplanned,
are very powerful. As the individual begins to lose weight, for instance, she/he
may enjoy having a new sense of control in a life in which she/he previously did
not feel effective or strong at all. Oftentimes the person who becomes anorexic
does not have a comfortable sense of her/his own abilities and is driven to keep
proving or establishing her/his competence in a variety of things. Being able to
say "no" to food, to hold forth over hunger, and being able to command one's
body weight, all may shore up a person's self-esteem or sense of self if they
are not very secure.
How does it happen?
People who develop bulimia tend to be conforming
and eager to please. They often feel that their negative emotional states will
be unacceptable or intolerable to others. Thus they may require themselves to
hide anger, unhappiness, discomfort or any other undesirable feeling they have.
It's as if any emotional state that is threatening should be made to disappear.
Such a person may get so good at this that she or he doesn't even know when they
are having feelings, much less what the exact feelings are. They may only
know that something internal feels extremely uncomfortable, that they can't
stand it and they must do something to rid themselves of it.
Anorexia and Bulimia are the slowest forms of suicide someone can carry out.
Behind the Smile- Causes
No one factor causes an eating disorder:
Psychological Factors
For anorexia:
Contrary to popular belief, anorexia is not solely based on food. Many other contributing factors lead to the emergence of the disorder. Loss of control, anxiety and/or depression, abuse, guilt, genetics, family emotional problems, the media, change, and need for attention are just a few of the possible components that may lead to the development of anorexia.
- fear of growing up
- inability to separate from the family
- need to please need to be liked
- perfectionist drives
- need to control
- lack of self esteem
- high family expectations
- parental dieting
- family discord
- temperament - often described as good girls
- teasing about weight and body shape
For bulimia:
- difficult regulating mood
- more impulsive - sometimes will be involved with shoplifting, substance abuse,
etc.
- sexual abuse
- family dysfunction
PRO ANA
Pro Anorexia (Pro Ana) is an online movement made up of websites, chat rooms and message boards that support anorexia. They are typically created by women and girls who currently suffer from anorexia and are looking for support to stay in their disease.
Unlike websites designed to help remove anorexia tendencies, pro anorexia websites are created to help support anorexia and negative body image. The pro anorexia websites typically contain online journals, tips and tricks for successful anorexia, pictures of thin women, quotations, and chat rooms or message boards where the women can communicate. These can be very destructive and further one in their eating disorder
Nobody knows exactly how the pro anorexia movement began, or when. Some claim that the sites have been around since 1998 or sooner, but the pro anorexia sites were exposed to the general public in 2001. In response to the movement, there was a petition to the servers hosting these sites to remove the content. In July, 2001 Yahoo determined that pro anorexia websites violated their user agreement and pulled those pages.