Eating disorder websites danger exposed

Research has highlighted the dangers of websites that promote eating disorders.

Mental health charity SANE conducted research into the experiences of young people using pro-eating disorder websites.

The survey, the first of its kind in the UK, aimed to discover who visits these sites and why, as well as the impact the sites have on those using them and whether they are perceived as helpful or damaging.

Half the 151 survey respondents said the websites helped to maintain their eating habits, and over 40% felt that the sites had helped them to become 'a better anorexic'.

Most of the website users were young women aged 22 or younger. More than half of respondents said they visited pro-eating disorder websites at least once a day, with 41% visiting several times.

Two groups were found to visit these websites, active and passive. The survey found that while active visitors - participating in chat rooms sharing and comparing experiences were more likely to seek treatment, the 'passive browsers' were less likely to do so.

Some 70% of those taking part reported having had suicidal thoughts or feelings and 46% self-harm other than an eating disorder. Only 7% of respondents viewed eating disorders as a 'lifestyle choice'.

Eating disorders, through the combination of starvation and suicide, are considered to have the highest fatality rate of all psychiatric disorders.

The findings were published in the European Eating Disorders Review last month to coincide with Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

Commenting on the survey, Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of SANE, said: Our research shows that young people are using these sites as a substitute for social contact and emotional support from family and friends, with 41% of those taking part visiting several times a day.

The sites can become a virtual community to which lonely teenagers turn for friendship and encouragement. SANE's concern is that they encourage people to hold onto their illness, reinforcing their beliefs and supporting them in a pattern of damaging behaviour, without encouraging them to seek treatment.'

While the sites can assuage the extreme loneliness of many who suffer from eating disorders, particularly adolescent girls, they can become addictive.'

This concern was backed up by the research, with one respondent saying: There's the feeling that one daren't recover, because then you'd no longer belong.'

Marjorie Wallace added: 1We call on those publishing these sites to review their content urgently, remove extreme exhortations and images juxtaposing thin celebrities with starving bodies, and take responsibility for messages which sustain self-destructive and potentially lethal behaviour.'

More than half of people with an eating disorder make a recovery, although they will on average be ill for five to six years. One in five of cases admitted to hospital will die.

Anorexia is not only a psychiatric disorder, but also can damage the heart and other vital organs and affect fertility and bones.

The survey was conducted by Emese Csipke of Imperial College London, and Outi Home, a researcher at SANE.

For more details visit the website www3.interscience.wiley.com/ rpi-hin/ihome/5972.

Copyright Community Psychiatric Nurses Association Mar 2007
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