Social networks can be wonderful communication tools – but they can also encourage eating disorders. Recent studies have proven this fact undoubtedly. Social networks include sites such as Facebook and Myspace.

In an ideal world, social networks would connect old friends, foster new relationships, and increase one’s awareness of the world around him or her. While this is sometimes the case with social networks, there is indeed an ugly side to them.

Some social networks allow the creation of various online groups. These groups could include members of a particular graduating class or random strangers who share a common love of knitting. Unfortunately, pro-eating disorder groups are becoming more and more common.

Pro-eating disorder groups, also referred to as pro-ana (pro-anorexia nervosa) or pro-mia (pro-bulimia), encourage online group members to be deliberate in their attempt to continue their diseases. Members can post “skinny” pictures of themselves to “encourage” both themselves and their fellow group members in their quests for the perfect body.

A private residential treatment center for girls over the age of 12 with eating disorders, Timberline Knolls, is home to Dr. Kimberly Dennis, Medical Director. Doctor Dennis has seen firsthand the negative effect social networks have on younger females patients with eating disorders.

“Dr. Dennis and her colleagues are finding that newly admitted patients have been using the Internet as a way to build on the isolation that accompanies their eating disorder because it is safer than dealing with others face to face or even voice to voice.”

One third to one half of the female patients receiving therapy at Timberline Knolls use social networking sites to support their eating disorders.

A recent study from the University of Haifa in Israel indicates that “the more time a young girl spends on Facebook, the more likely she is to develop an eating disorder.” This fact is much more of a reality for young women than for older women.

From Harvard and the University of California, Dr. Nicholas Christakis is performing some amazing research concerning social networks. Dr. Christakis is finding that emotions and behaviours can actually be propagated among social networking sites.

In Dr. Christakis’s findings, happiness and loneliness are two emotions that can be “spread” among a social networking group. Health-related behaviours such as smoking and conditons leading to obesity can also be spread.

If behaviors related to obesity can be propagated among a social network, wouldn’t it be fairly safe to assume that behaviors related to the furtherance of eating disorders could be spread, too?

It’s important to remember that social networks in general and of themselves are not necessarily negative. Researchers are observing that when individuals trade all face-to-face communication for online communication, that’s when the trouble begins.

Eating disorders thrive when they are kept a secret. It is easier to keep things secret from people you communicate with through a computer screen, using a keyboard rather than vocal chords.

If you fear a young woman you know may be using a social network to support her eating disorder, please visit http://www.eatingdisordersreview.com/nl/nl_edr_22_2_1.html to learn about some positive steps you can take in supporting her in the right way.

Sources:

http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/07/how-social-networks-spread-eating-disorders/?xid=huffpo-direct

http://www.eatingdisordersreview.com/nl/nl_edr_22_2_1.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL4s_IXp3w8 (eating disorder youtube video) 470 % jump in these websites recently

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Let’s Talk About It

Why do you think that on the whole social networks encourage eating disorders in the younger generation?

Do you think suspending a pro-eating disorder site user’s social network access is the most beneficial thing to do? Why or why not?