Pro-ana communities on the Internet - Kölner UniversitätsPublikationsServer

Eichenberg, Christiane, Fluemann, Andrea and Hensges, Kristin (2011). Pro-ana communities on the Internet. Psychotherapeut, 56 (6). S. 492 - 501. NEW YORK: SPRINGER. ISSN 1432-2080

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DOI:10.1007/s00278-011-0861-0

Abstract

Considering the powerful media backlash and the assumption that pro-ana is dangerous for young women with eating disorders many pro-ana websites that explicitly encourage extreme thinness and advocate anorexia as a lifestyle choice rather than an illness have closed down. However, there is a lack of meaningful studies which have investigated the pro-ana communities with respect to the real risk. Who uses pro-ana communities and what are the reasons? What is the impact of the community on the desire for weight reduction, therapy willingness and mental well-being? A total of 220 adolescent users of german-speaking pro-ana communities responded to a self-developed online questionnaire including the brief symptom inventory (BSI) and eating attitudes test (EAT-26). The results showed that respondents have a high degree of mental stress and a highly characteristic symptomatology of eating disorders. The users of pro-ana communities do not demonstrate a heterogeneous population. By the use of cluster analysis three user types could be identified which differed from each other with respect to user motives, age and the duration of the eating disorder and participation in the community. The media backlash and criticism of these specific eating disorder communities appear to have only limited justification and an overall prohibition is contraindicated based on the results of the present study.

Item Type:

Journal Article

Creators:

Creators	Email	ORCID	ORCID Put Code
Eichenberg, Christiane	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED
Fluemann, Andrea	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED
Hensges, Kristin	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED