"Pro-ana" websites turn girls on to anorexia

[suebee]

Originally Posted by dark_crystal

usually the sites are created by those who are already ill and seeking to band together with others to "stay strong." The disease is very isolating and you tend to withdraw from friends and family b/c social and family functions tend to involve eating- which i was capable of NOT doing, but it causes uncomfortable questions, etc.

You feel like no one understands, and you're right. You don't want to admit that you are sick so you seek out other sick people to make you feel normal.

all of the original livejournal comms are run by the same person, who ultimately seeks to attract the members to his treatment program.

I'm wondering - and you may or may not be able to answer this d.k. - Do the pictures posted not in any way spark a comprehension of the reality of situation to those who suffer from anorexia? I'm thinking that you can see your own image in the mirror and perceive yourself as "too fat", but is there no filter that recognizes a starving body, or has the ideal been completely replaced with emaciation? Is the behavior so compulsive at that point that there IS no reality check?

This is one of those disorders where I understand what happens, but struggle to understand exactly what the thought process becomes when one is in it's grips. I think that the fact that I tend to overeat and be overweight might be part of it too. But it occurs to me that if I have difficulty grasping it then probably there are others that do as well.

I don't in any way want you to answer if you're uncomfortable, but perhaps somebody on the site has more insight than I do and could explain.

Sue