Out of the Shadows

Very inappropriate to have an advertisement claiming "I lcut down 5 pounds of stomach fat per week" on this page!

Earlz_81, you are an immature, thoughtless jerk. You don't deserve to have ANY girlfriend, let alone one that's attractive. I hope your parents don't read your comment because if I were your mother (God forbid), I would be so ashamed of my failure to raise a compassionate human being. Oh, and learn how to spell if you're going to post comments publicly...you look even more ignorant than you are (hard as that is to fathom).

i dont want to say this as if eating disorders are a good thing but sometimes you really dont know what people are going through. Im naturally skinny so I never thought about doing anything like that to my body but ive always been trying to gain weight so i guess people should start to try to see it in a different light

In an age obsessed with political correctness the definition of disease is fluid. Today anorexia is considered a disease but tomorrow it may be considered a lifestyle. Does facebook allow groups for people interested in sex-change surgery? Believing yourself to be transgendered is certainly a disease and obviously involves horrific mutilation but yet it is celebrated in the media. 40 years ago homosexuality was considered a disease. Who gets to decide what is a disease and what is just an interesting lifestyle? Facebook? TV networks? Teenagers?

In a politically correct age the definition of disease is fluid. Today anorexia is considered a disease but tomorrow it may be considered a lifestyle. Does facebook allow groups for people interested in sex-change surgery? Believing yourself to be transgendered is certainly a disease and obviously involves horrific mutilation but yet it is celebrated in the media. 40 years ago homosexuality was considered a disease. Who gets to decide what is a disease and what is just an interesting lifestyle? Facebook? TV networks? Teenagers?

The problem with anorexia is that, unlike other addictions, we aren't consuming something. You can take alcohol and drugs away but you can't make someone eat.

Anorexia is no different than meth, alcohol or other addictions. Watch that show Intervention if you want a clue.

I had an eating disorder about 15 years ago. So many things influenced this disorder into my life, wanting control, wanting to be noticed, wanting to self destruct. I look through these pro-ana sites and my stomach turns to see this crap. I remember a few years ago reading in a YM or Seventeen magazine, an article commending a girl with anorexia and encouraging it. I think it's great to have sites that are truly support groups, to help them introduce a healthy self image into their lives, to learn to control important things like their own education and that they can make an impact on the world without starving themselves. However, it seems like these pro-ana sites are throwing it out there like its fashionable, and it's "cool" to do it. What the hell? I completely believe in free speech, but allowing this toxicity to be available to our youth is downright unacceptable. Yes, there are girls out there with eating disorders, but how many got an eating disorder after happening upon one of these sites? Come on! They all need to be deleted and we need to spend more time with our children, help them improve their self image, and let them know that they are truly loved. I shudder to think what our country will be like in 20 years with the decline of morality in the American Household.

Anorexia doesn't start as the problem; it starts as the symptom. It's a self-destructive addiction that initially gives the victim the illusion of escape or control just like alcohol, drugs, sex, over-eating, smoking, etc. can - and then takes on a life of its own. The more you concentrate on the symptom (by attempting to get the victim to deny their body image, for example), the more you help define it and give it power. But neither can you eliminate the compulsion once it's taken hold by denying its power and attempting only to address the original underlying problem (of self-esteem, depression, whatever). Even if you do, the compulsion has already taken control. (Alcoholics don't stop drinking just because they start to feel better about themselves.) Anorexia has to be treated like any compulsive disorder and deprogrammed. Rehab programs are about deprogramming - about recognizing that the symptom is just that - a destructive behavior that has become compulsive yet can still be broken by replacing it with more positive behaviors. Pro-Ana sites may not be helping, but banning them would only keep the behavior in the dark. Anorexics should not be ashamed of their behavior - it's something that they have no control over.

I can see having a forum to discuss anorexia but it could turn out to be a "support group" that encourages anorexia.
go and get help if you have this disease. You need to raise your self-esteem. Saying that you look fat when you weigh 70 lbs is just stupidity, especially when people tell you that you look like a Biafran.

What do you mean? Anorexia is only a slow form of playing with suicide. It is linked to low self-esteem and depression.
I am not saying that anorexics are the only self-destructive people in the world. Smokers, drug addicts, and people who drink to excess also count. If you are an anorexic, you need help.

These pro-anorexia groups may claim to be a place where people with eating disorers can support each other, but the things that are being promoted and discussed(tips and ways to continue something that can and very likely will kill you or cause severe health problems, triggering pictures to make you feel inadequate and like you need to continue the harmful behavior) are much more triggering than helpful. Encouraging the disease is more harmful than helpful. It's a great idea to have a place where people with these diseases can talk with people going through similar issues and feel like they are not alone, but a healthy place, not one that will influence even more harm.

These pro-anorexia groups may claim to be a place where people with eating disorers can support each other, but the things that are being promoted and discussed(tips and ways to continue something that can and very likely will kill you or cause severe health problems, triggering pictures to make you feel inadequate and like you need to continue the harmful behavior) are much more triggering than helpful. Encouraging the disease is more harmful than helpful. It's a great idea to have a place where people with these diseases can talk with people going through similar issues and feel like they are not alone, but a healthy place, not one that will influence even more harm.