Soxy Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 Stopping Pro-Ana I found this website very interesting--I had never heard of pro-ana sites or anything like it before today. Pro-ana and Pro-mia are, apparently, a train of thought followed by people that suffer from anarexia and bulimia (respectively). On the websites people with those disorders sort of cheer each other on in their unhealthy eating habits. I thought this was really interesting and sad so I thought I'd share... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 :headshake I wonder if you could add up all the good and all the bad regarding the internet and place it on a balance, which way it will tilt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pale Hose Jon Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 About a week ago i found the Pro Ana blog ring on xanga. It is really sad to see those girls xanga sites. the only problem is that you just don't know what to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Prawn Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 It is really sad to see those girls xanga sites. the only problem is that you just don't know what to do. It is. One thing is that families need to be vigilant for rapid weight loss and personality changes in their kids and not be afraid to ask questions when it happens. My sister did the laxative approach in HS. I went through her dresser looking for the curling iron and found her "stash" in the bottom drawer underneath some clothes. She used the "it's not mine, it's a friend's" excuse, but couldn't think up a good one to explain the recent weight loss. She didn't speak to me for a year or so, but at least she stopped that crap...er...um...you know what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 I think the Japanese site were chat-buddies would encourage suicide tops this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxy Posted November 17, 2004 Author Share Posted November 17, 2004 I think the Japanese site were chat-buddies would encourage suicide tops this... Fair point, but in the end this could end up being nothing more than a longer suicide.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 Fair point, but in the end this could end up being nothing more than a longer suicide.... Yeah, I can definately see that. Either way this is wrong. Someone needs to direct a DNS attack on the site and crash it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrimsonWeltall Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 Yeah, I can definately see that. Either way this is wrong. Someone needs to direct a DNS attack on the site and crash it. As far as I could tell from the article, the site is just like a Xanga that happens to have a large group of moranz who post on each other's "diary" about this bulls***. There are probably a lot of legit users on it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxy Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 (edited) In the news again.... Cult-Like Lure of 'Ana' Attracts Anorexics By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer Mon May 30, 1:13 PM ET CHICAGO - They call her "Ana." She is a role model to some, a goddess to others — the subject of drawings, prayers and even a creed. She tells them what to eat and mocks them when they don't lose weight. And yet, while she is a very real presence in the lives of many of her followers, she exists only in their minds. Ana is short for anorexia, and — to the alarm of experts — many who suffer from the potentially fatal eating disorder are part of an underground movement that promotes self-starvation and, in some cases, has an almost cult-like appeal. Followers include young women and teens who wear red Ana bracelets and offer one another encouraging words of "thinspiration" on Web pages and blogs. They share tips for shedding pounds and faithfully report their "cw" and "gw" — current weight and goal weight, which often falls into the double digits. They also post pictures of celebrity role models, including teen stars Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen, who last year set aside the acting career and merchandising empire she shares with her twin sister to seek help for her own eating disorder. "Put on your Ana bracelet and raise your skinny fist in solidarity!" one "pro-Ana" blogger wrote shortly after Olsen entered treatment. The movement has flourished on the Web and eating disorder experts say that, despite attempts to limit Ana's online presence, it has now grown to include followers — many of them young — in many parts of the world. No one knows just how many of the estimated 8 million to 11 million Americans afflicted with eating disorders have been influenced by the pro-Ana movement. But experts fear its reach is fairly wide. A preliminary survey of teens who've been diagnosed with eating disorders at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University, for instance, found that 40 percent had visited Web sites that promote eating disorders. "The more they feel like we — 'the others' — are trying to shut them down, the more united they stand," says Alison Tarlow, a licensed psychologist and supervisor of clinical training at the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Fla., a residential facility that focuses on eating disorders. Experts say the Ana movement also plays on the tendency people with eating disorders have toward "all or nothing thinking." "When they do something, they tend to pursue it to the fullest extent. In that respect, Ana may almost become a religion for them," says Carmen Mikhail, director of the eating disorders clinic at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. She and others point to the "Ana creed," a litany of beliefs about control and starvation, that appears on many Web sites and blogs. At least one site encourages followers to make a vow to Ana and sign it in blood. People with eating disorders who've been involved in the movement confirm its cult-like feel. "People pray to Ana to make them skinny," says Sara, a 17-year-old in Columbus, Ohio, who was an avid organizer of Ana followers until she recently entered treatment for her eating disorder. She spoke on the condition that her last name not be used. Among other things, Sara was the self-proclaimed president of Beta Sigma Kappa, dubbed the official Ana sorority and "the most talked about, nearly illegal group" on a popular blog hosting service that Sara still uses to communicate with friends. She also had an online Ana "boot camp" and told girls what they could and couldn't eat. "I guess I was attention-starved," she now says of her motivation. "I really liked being the girl that everyone looked up to and the one they saw as their 'thinspiration.' "But then I realized I was helping girls kill themselves." For others, Ana is a person — a voice that directs their every move when it comes to food and exercise. "She's someone who's perfect. It's different for everyone — but for me, she's someone who looks totally opposite to the way I do," says Kasey Brixius, a 19-year-old college student from Hot Springs, S.D. To Brixius — athletic with brown hair and brown eyes — Ana is a wispy, blue-eyed blonde. "I know I could never be that," she says, "but she keeps telling me that if I work hard enough, I CAN be that." Dr. Mae Sokol often treats young patients in her Omaha, Neb., practice who personify their eating disorder beyond just Ana. To them, bulimia is "Mia." And an eating disorder often becomes "Ed." "A lot of times they're lonely and they don't have a lot of friends. So Ana or Mia become their friend. Or Ed becomes their boyfriend," says Sokol, who is director of the eating disorders program run by Children's Hospital and Creighton University. In the end, treatment can include writing "goodbye" letters to Ana, Mia and Ed in order to gain control over them. But it often takes a long time to get to that point — and experts agree that, until someone with an eating disorder wants to help themselves, treatment often fails. Tarlow, at the Renfrew Center, says it's also easy for patients to fall back into the online world of Ana after they leave treatment. "Unfortunately," she says, "with all people who are in recovery, it's so much about who you surround yourself with." Some patients, including Brixius, the 19-year-old South Dakotan, have had trouble finding counselors who truly understand their struggle with Ana. "I'd tell them about Ana and how she's a real person to me. And they'd just look at me like I'm nuts," Brixius says of the counselors she's seen at college and in her hometown. "They wouldn't address her ever again, so it got very frustrating. "Half the time I'm, like, 'You know what? I give up.'" Other days, she's more hopeful. "I gotta snap out of this eventually if I want to have kids and get a job. One day, I'll get to that point," she says, pausing. "But I'll always obsess about food." ___ On the Net: National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders: http://www.anad.org National Eating Disorders Association: http://www.edap.org/ The more I hear about this stuff the creepier and sicker it sounds to me. Edited June 1, 2005 by ChiSoxyGirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Prawn Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 A close friend of min suffered from both eating disorders when she was a teen. My sister tried using laxatives, but I caught her and we (my mom and I) talked with her about it. She didn't talk to me for quite some time, but after she saw what it did to a friend of hers, she lost alot of her anger towards me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 The person(s) behind that website should be held liable for every dime of therapy and health care costs these people incur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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