Blog Entry Two: The Need for Change!

Over the years, practitioners have found that social media is not helpful for anyone and yet, the research to support this belief remains undeveloped. Young people are accessing the internet and pro-ana based content every day and little is being done to prevent or promote the horrors of what can happen as an aftermath of accessing such content. Referring to practice, practitioners are too inward looking and focus on those that are undertaking therapy for these issues whilst forgetting a whole group of others who could be affected by this type of content daily. 'To The Horror of Experts' A study was conducted by Monique Delforterie, Junilla Larsen, Anna Bardone-Cone and Ron Scholte (2014) to examine the effects of viewing pro-ana websites in comparison to viewing control websites such as home, décor and fashion. The findings from this study suggested that the participants were negatively affected by viewing the pro-ana content. However, in comparison to previous studies, due to the starting BMI of the participants they were not nearly as affected as others with a higher body mass index. This shows to me that the group of people practitioners are missing out on helping are those with higher BMI’s who are looking for rapid results for weight loss due to feeling dissatisfied with their bodies. I believe that practitioners are so focused on helping the ‘already sick’ and completely dismissing the idea that there are others who idolise these types of bodies and could be lead to behave, eat and look the same way. In the article ‘To the horror of experts’ (Holland, K., Dickson, A., Dickson, A., 2018) it is detailed that pro-ana websites have started to attract concern among scholars and health practitioners due to the potential they hold to encourage others’ disordered eating. The article states that “The concern about pro-ana communities rests largely upon their characterisation as sites that promote ‘disordered eating’ and expose vulnerable people to significant health risks”. Throughout, there is an emphasis on the need for a distinction between pro-ana communities and sites that focus on recovery and clinical intervention as many individuals are visiting these communities for support and instead are receiving encouragement which can cause relapse in individuals in recovery. Another study showed that their can be positive outcomes for those with eating disorders when using technology to help with recovery. Specifically, chat rooms and online forums have been found to support recovery and empower those individuals who are seeking help. However, participants from the study recommended changes for the future of technology including; access to meal support and meal plans/suggestions, tools to track recovery activities and other practical coping strategies. The participants also stated the helpfulness that would come from communication features such as being able to communication with a therapist or professional via the websites. They also highlighted the importance of guaranteeing a safe non-triggering space that only encourages recovery.

(Basterfield, A., et al., 2018) Recommendations that Support Change My suggestion is that there needs to be some preventative methods put in place by local GP practices, by therapists online and on social media to promote such issues. However, the focus should not be solely on the dangers of accessing pro-ana content, but more focusing on the importance of recovery and good health and overall wellbeing. I believe that if practitioners started to do online polls to get a vision of what exactly the problems of body image surround then they could then start to develop preventative methods to protect those who may be vulnerable in the online world. Preventative measures could involve practitioners doing question and answer videos on social media stories so that people can get professional and medical advice without having to visit their local GP’s. I believe that taking over the internet and making sure that every corner is filled with professional and medically supported advice would be beneficial to both those who do and do not currently suffer with eating disorders. I would also like to suggest that practitioners start to do online recovery workshops and offer support to those who are not currently undergoing eating disorder recovery treatment as this could potentially keep them away from developing or joining the pro-ana communities. There needs to be more out there and not just on the NHS website, there needs to be information on the mortality rates of such mental illnesses spread widely and links on where to access help. I think that scare tactics work well in some cases however my idea is that a preventative methods such as the online workshops, online polls and Q&A videos would work far better to ensure that everyone is offered the support and care in which practitioners have a duty to do.