No Thinspiration

Without their parents’ knowledge, many adolescents with diagnosed eating disorders are visiting Web sites that encourage anorexia and bulimia, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics last month.

“Parents of pro-eating-disorder Web site users were more likely to know about these sites” – which provide “thinspiration” (images of extremely thin women) and reinforce disordered eating habits – than other parents, said Rebecka Peebles, one of the study’s authors and an instructor in adolescent medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. “Still, over half the parents of these pro-eating-disorder Web site users didn’t know their own kids were on these sites.”

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CBSNews is also talking about thinspiration and sites: “Kids Learn Harmful Behavior From Pro-Eating-Disorder Web Sites And Recovery Web Sites”

Teens with eating disorders are picking up dangerous tips from both pro-eating-disorder Web sites and sites designed to treat the problem, according to a new study.

And though most of their parents know about the pro-eating-disorder Web sites, few sit down and talk to their kids about them.

The so-called “pro-Ana” Web sites — shorthand for pro-anorexia — offer tips on extreme weight loss and purging. They suggest that believing one can’t be too thin is a lifestyle choice, not an eating disorder. The sites often offer strategies for avoiding detection by parents and doctors when purging. Site forums allow teens with eating disorders to share tips and offer support.

These sites usually carry “thinspiration” pictures — sometimes shocking images of extremely thin young people.

How much do teens with eating disorders and their parents know about these sites? In an effort to find out, researchers surveyed families of patients age 10-22 treated at Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.
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Young sufferers of anorexia and bulimia who try to hide their eating problems from their parents and doctors are turning to a growing number of internet chat rooms dedicated to perpetuating their illness.

A pilot study released this week of US eating disorder patients aged between 10 and 22 showed that up to a third learn new weight loss or purging methods from websites that promote eating disorders by enabling users to share tips, such as what drugs induce vomiting and what internet sites sell them.

But the study - published in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ journal Pediatrics - found that eating disorder sufferers were also learning new high-risk ways to lose weight from each other on websites aimed at helping them recover.

The survey by researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford showed a third of patients also visited pro-recovery sites and half of them learnt new weight loss and purging methods.

“Parents and physicians need to realise that the internet is essentially an unmonitored media forum,” said Rebecka Peebles, Packard Children’s adolescent medicine and eating disorder specialist and an author of the study.
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