Pro Ana/Pro Mia

I wanted to raise the profile of Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia sites, these are sites which claim to offer ‘support’ to people suffering with eating disorders. These sites promote that having an Eating Disorder is a choice and that as an individual people have the choice whether to take this path in life or not – the sites claim that if you have then they offer a non judgemental place for people to meet and swap tips etc. They also hold many pictures of ‘thinspiration’ a dangerous concept of posting pictures of celebs or themselves when dangerously thin.

When young women get involved in these sites, they often find a network of people who understand them but this can in turn feed the addition/illness and as part of recovery at times the pro-ana/mia sites can be something else to pull away from.

If you are a parent, take care not to let your children visit these sites, talk to them about the sites and give them alternatives and if you are a young person struggling then please be careful, B-eat offer self help networks where you can attend groups and talk to others who have experiences as part of your recovery - http://www.b-eat.co.uk/Home

For now xxx