Abstract :] (title below)

Rachel G

Pro-Anorexia : It’s a Gift and a curse

                How pro-ana websites influence eating disordered behaviors in ‘ana by choice’ patrons.

This research paper will analyze the difference between ana by choice and anorexics that are patrons of pro-anorexia websites, and will further study the effects these websites can have on ana by choice members without developing an eating disorder. Pro-anorexia websites can be easily found via any search engine that is not equipped with a form of parental lock. One can stumble upon a pro-anorexia website while searching for new diet tips or photographs of inspiring people who have lost weight and posted before and after photos. Of the two types of “anorexics”, ana by choice will be studied to inform the public of ways that pro-anorexia sites can catch a person’s eye and give them the idea that they are choosing to lose weight in incredibly unhealthy ways. Some ana by choice members will always be ana by choice while others will slip deeper into the desire to be “perfect” and will eventually be diagnosed with eating disorders. There is limited information and studies performed on pro-anorexia websites which causes the topic to be of great importance for further investigation. The methods of research for this research paper will largely be interviews of people who believe they are ana by choice, interviews of psychologists who specialize in eating disorders and analyzing the content of pro-anorexia websites for their value to both anorexics and ana by choice patrons.

Word Count: 252

Pro-ana: Friend or Feind?

How pro-ana websites influence eating disordered thoughts.




          I am writing about eating disordered websites on the internet because I want to find out how pro-ana websites have increased eating disordered thoughts in order to help my reader better understand that even the general public can be affected by pro-ana blogs.


             Can the general public be affected by pro-ana blogs without developing an eating disorder? I intend to prove that it is possible to be affected by pro-ana blogs and not develop an eating disorder. Pro-ana is a common term used to indicate that the website will have thin inspiration (thinspo) in the form of images, quotes or weight loss progress. Many pro-ana websites have introduced forums and chat rooms for members to submit posts that include techniques that work for hiding the disorder and low calorie meals. Contrary to popular belief, eating disorders do not have very much to do with eating, they are a psychiatric diagnosis that has more to do with how the person perceives themselves as “fat” and wants to lose weight until they get to the “perfect” weight. Many blogs and websites that are pro-ana have a disclaimer that they are not “pro-ana” but “pro-disscussion” for those with eating disorders, whether they want to be healthy or dig themselves deeper into the eating disorder. In a culture that airbrushes images from ads to school pictures, and focuses on which celebrity has gained or lost weight since they were last seen in public, we get bombarded with images of “perfection” and sometimes cannot differentiate the size of a healthy person compared to their airbrushed body. For the remainder of my proposal/paper I will refer to people with eating disorders as patients because men can also have eating disorders.


           Eating disorders have been present for an undetermined amount of time as no two sources viewed so far have established a clear year, or century, of the first documented eating disorder. One source believes eating disorders were first described in the 17th century (Gehlin), whilst another counts the 13th century (Kuehnel) as the birth of eating disorders. No two patients have the same reason for the onset of their eating disorder, nor does any treatment work the same on each patient. A source stated that “frequently cultural influences play an important role in disordered eating [symptomology] and development”. To be diagnosed with an eating disorder you meet the criteria for said disorder. The criteria for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are strict and require all of the criteria to be met for the diagnosis of anorexia or bulimia. Those who do not fit into either diagnosis have been given the diagnosis of Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS). The strict criteria makes the diagnosing of the disorders complicated and many people with eating disordered thoughts do not get the therapy that they need. Eating disordered thoughts, in the case of this proposal/paper are thoughts about losing weight quickly (ex. Wedding), about how certain body parts are sub par to the standards you have been told by society (ex. disliking the size of ones thighs), ideas on how to lose weight that are unhealthy and could be a hazard to ones health (ex. extreme fasting)  


[interesting facts that are not part of my topic proposal, but are still interesting anyway.]
disclaimer: do not read if you bore easily and just want to get the comment on my blog so you can move on. :)

• In my years of being an avid pro-ana blogger, I came across quite a few weight loss blogs of people who claimed they wished they could have an eating disorder because it would make them lose weight faster. Back then, I snickered at them for not being "strong" enough to attempt to perfect their body image. Now, I wish I could go to each and every one of them and tell them that having an eating disorder doesn't make it any easier to lose weight, it just makes you want to lose more weight than before, and will distort what you see in the mirror to make you keep working at perfection.
• There is a disorder for those who constantly worry about body image flaws that are either minor or imaginary, Body Dysmorphic Disorder. (I am a contender in the BDD wrestling ring).
• Being diagnosed EDNOS can sometimes traumatize the person with the diagnosis because they believe they should fit into one category or the other and feel like their “work” in that disorder has not been noticed by the psychiatrist or doctor who made the diagnosis. (Those patients will sometimes come out of their doctors office on the ED unit and scream and shout about how they are anorexic. Those patients have also accused me of picking a movie for movie night that directly offends them in unimaginable ways).
• Extreme fasting is almost a sport for people with ED. We try to see who can go the longest without having anything with calories, drinking only water and taking vitamins. Some patients will pick a fruit and a healthy caloric beverage as the only items to be consumed during the fast, which is an acceptable form of fasting. I was an extreme faster but was never able to go more than [x] hours (we aren't allowed to talk about numbers, they can be triggering to me and other patients on the unit) without eating, partially because my mom wants our family to have family dinners as much as possible, but also because I am weak (just kidding)-- when I began to black out, I decided I had done enough and deserved a few calories.
• Scary story time: At the ED unit I was admitted to, they take your picture when you first arrive and then let you see it before you leave. One young adult came in via wheelchair because her weight was so low that her body could not support itself (think 24 year old woman, 4'11" with the weight of an average seven year old). When I was admitted, she had already been in the hospital for two months and stayed another month or so before being discharged at the average weight of a twelve year old. 
• This topic is what I am most passionate writing about, but also the most triggering topic on the face of this earth. I could write for years about foods and what kind of people eat them, but as soon as you throw in the ED part, I am brought back to all of the experiences I had before, during, and after my stay on the unit. I am brought back to thinking about all the things I did to hide my disorder, and how long I was able to keep it before anybody began to notice something was wrong (Four and a half years). I am reminded of the intense feelings of hopelessness and self doubt. But I want to write about this topic more than anything because once this research paper is finally finished (AMST490?) I will have a huge weight off of my shoulders. The weight of having once owned my own pro-ana blog which gave the wrong kind of inspiration to girls and boys who looked at it, and I wonder if they ever will get the help they need.
• A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that 5 – 10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease; 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30 – 40% ever fully recover. (http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm)

Sources:
Gehlin, Linda. "The History Of Anorexia Nervosa and other Eating Disorders."Web4Health. N.p., 05 Aug                
2008. Web. 19 Oct 2011. <http://web4health.info/en/answers/ed-anorexia-history.htm>.


Kuehnel, Deborah J. "History of Eating Disorders."Eating Disorder Recovery Center. edrecover.com, 1998.      Web. 19 Oct 2011. <http://www.addictions.net/id107.html>.

Eating disorder evolutionists.

I am writing about eating disorders since 1990 because I want to find out how adavances in computer technology have helped evolve eating disorders in order to help my reader better understand what signs to look for in a friend they suspect may have an eating disorder.

Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit

How have eating disorders evolved throughout the years with the help of advances in technology and medicine since eating disorders were given their own diagnosis?

All mental disorders have a diagnosis that is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM, current edition is IV-Text Revision). There are three types of eating disorders and each has its own diagnostic number in the DSM-IV to have a short hand for psychiatrist, therapists and psychologists. Anorexia Nervosa (307.1)characterized by a refusal to maintain a healthy body weight, obsessive fear of gaining weight, and distorted self image. Bulimia Nervosa (307.51) is characterized by binge eating, lack of self control during the binge eating session, and unhealthy behavior to prevent weight gain including self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics and other medications. The third type of eating disorder laid out in the DSM-IV-TR is Eating Disorder not otherwise specified (307.50) also known as EDNOS, whose characterizations are a mix of Anorexia and Bulimia or meeting most of the criteria for either disorder but not all criteria. Some people try to adhere Binge Eating Disorder to being overweight, however it is not currently a psychiatric diagnosis.

Eating Disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder and can affect both men and women of any age, race, or ethnic background. Although it is evident that eating disorders may have been around since the beginning of culture, it was first stated as a diagnosis in 1870.

Since the invention of the internet, people with eating disorders have been able to report their progress and be supportive for those who wish to follow the same path. These websites are commonly called “thinspo” or “pro-ED” sites because they give inspiration to keep restricting or purging in the form of pictures of very thin men and women and words like “stay strong” and “quod me nutrit me destruit” (what nourishes me, destroys me). Even people without eating disorders can negatively affect the health of a person with an eating disorder via the internet. Common phrases seen on social networking sites and blogs are “I need to lose [X] pounds in [X] weeks” and “I'm so full I could just throw up”. These phrases and others involving exercising may look like nonsense, and most people would just scroll right past that blog post or status update. But us men and women who have eating disorders can linger on those words for a long time, we think “I could lose [X] pounds faster than [X] weeks” and take it as a challenge to ourselves to beat that person in weight-loss. Diet sites like Weight Watchers open a whole new world for those suffering from eating disorders.

Men and women from around the world on these pro-ED sites support each other, and give one another advice on the quickest ways to lose weight. “Eat something in the morning so you don't get hungry later on and binge,” or “negative calorie foods like celery will fill you up while not costing you a single calorie".

Word count: 490

The Girl With The Eating Disorder

The topic of my eating disorder can be attacked from so many different perspectives that I could almost write every college paper on a completely different aspect of it. I am intrigued not only by my own eating disorder but also that of others. I have found that no two eating disorders are the same, and no two people suffering will be able to recover with the same recovery techniques.

Those who have not personally experienced or known someone who has experienced an eating disorder will find my interest in such a topic boring and irrelevant. I can however explain what intrigues me so much that I feel the need to discuss eating disorders in every class that I can manage.

We are all sick. Us with eating disorders, but our bodies react differently. A young woman who had been suffering for ten years was told by her doctor at the hospital that she had osteoporosis and that her bones would always be brittle and weak. A military man on the unit had “contracted” his eating disorder when he injured his Achilles tendon and could not exercise like he had in the past. My own eating disorder was brought on by my lack of self in middle school where I filled the social norm that people told me I had (anorexic). In treatment, my blood test results were never out of the ordinary and my blood pressure and heart rate was higher than the norm, which is abnormal because those with eating disorders usually have lower blood pressure and heart rates.

What I have come to question about eating disorders is how they are “contracted” as mental disorders and how they affect the body medically.

Word Count: 294

Test Blog Post

This is obviously not my first blog that is due on Thursday September 8. I just wanted to make sure my blog worked.

I guess, I'll explain my profile photo. I visited England this past summer as my dad is currently stationed there. Having grown up in England, I wanted to travel as much as possible and visit places I hadn't gone to as a child. We came across the small town of Melmerby in Coverdale (there are two Melmerby's in England, the other is in Ripon or Cumbria) and decided to stay at a Bed&Breakfast called the West Close Farmhouse (a must stay if you happen to be in Melmerby in Coverdale). The town of Melmerby in Coverdale is so small that you can see from one side to the other along just one street. We spent the evening walking around and seeing what livestock we could find on the farms. We found cows which I can be seen petting in the photograph below. Farther up the road we found a dead rabbit. I am fascinated by dead animals on the side of roads so my father took a picture of me proving that I found a dead rabbit.

Boring story, that will not be edited since this is not an actual blog post and I'm just trying to entertain while I still have the chance.