Answer Addiction

Tag: eating disorder recovery

  • How Does Social Media Affect Disordered Eating?

    How Does Social Media Affect Disordered Eating?

    A new study suggests that social media platforms may be having the opposite effect on disordered eating than is expected.

    Social media is often blamed for a number of societal ills—depression, anxiety, bullying, isolation, and negative body image.

    A new essay published on The Conversation explored social media’s relationship with disordered eating—e.g. anorexia or bulimia nervosa. The authors cite recent findings that found that overall, “fewer young people are being diagnosed with eating disorders.”

    The authors, who were involved in the research, analyzed a primary care database covering about 7% of England’s population, focusing on data of more than one million children and young people who went to the doctor between 2004 and 2014.

    On The Decline

    “Rates decreased most significantly for bulimia nervosa, less so for eating disorders not otherwise specified, and remained stable for anorexia nervosa,” the authors wrote.

    The results were surprising, and suggest that social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook may be having the opposite effect than is expected. The authors suggest that “the body positivity and range of body shapes and sizes seen on social platforms is helping young people accept their own selves.”

    This idea goes against existing theories about social media’s detrimental impact on body image. There is no shortage of social media “influencers” with curated feeds of picture perfect selfies.

    “The mechanism where this might lead to eating concerns and disordered eating seems sensible,” the authors said. “But our study doesn’t currently support that.”

    Continued research on the matter is starting to pick away at these assumptions.

    Shared Experiences

    While social media platforms like Instagram have been found to unite communities bonded by the shared experience of disordered eating and working toward objectively unhealthy body goals, they also have united people who are seeking recovery.

    So, instead of frequenting hashtags like #thinspiration, #proana and #thighgap, Instagram users on the road to eating disorder recovery may find their community through #edrecovery, #edsurvivor and #beatana. (“Ana” refers to anorexia nervosa.)

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Model Bridget Malcolm Gets Candid About Eating Disorder Recovery

    Model Bridget Malcolm Gets Candid About Eating Disorder Recovery

    “Moving away from any addiction is utterly terrifying. You are left without a form of self-containment,” the Aussie model wrote in a blog post.

    Australian model Bridget Malcolm struggled with disordered eating for a long time. She’s in a place of recovery now, but acknowledged the fact that it is a daily challenge. It does not happen overnight, but rather with every step taken toward a good place.

    During a vulnerable moment, she shared her thoughts on her recovery in a new blog post. “My body dysmorphia is bad right now,” she wrote.

    Malcolm has been candid about her eating disorder recovery. Last September she reached a full year without losing her period since she was 16 years old. “Losing my period was always such a thrill for me, it meant my destructive habits were working and I was really actually skinny,” she wrote on her blog last year.

    Exploring The Roots 

    In her new blog post, the model explores the roots of her body image issues. “My desire to starve comes from a place of feeling unheard and worthless. I was a sensitive and shy child. As an adult I used starvation as a means to separate myself from me. I felt less, spoke less and needed less when I was starving.”

    She admitted that there’s nothing easy about recovery. “If anything, the feelings are extra loud and insistent. You have taken away your coping mechanism,” she wrote.

    Breaking Old Patterns

    Without the comfort of her old patterns, Malcolm has had to transform her mindset and re-wire old habits. “Moving away from any addiction is utterly terrifying. You are left without a form of self-containment. All that remains is the intense craving to go back to your dangerous safe place, a craving that you cannot give in to, or you risk dying.”

    She acknowledged that she’s on the right path but recovery is still new to her, and takes time to master. Since she’s struggled with her body image and disordered eating since she was in her teens, she has a lot to un-learn.

    “I know now that I spent the majority of my life cultivating the thought processes that eventually led me down the path of disordered eating,” she wrote. “What this means is that my two years of recovery pales in comparison to the 23 or so years I spent in the throes of my eating disorder. I am still very much a beginner in this thing.”

    She’s now putting in the work toward killing off her old habits by “think[ing] through” her eating disorder. “Reliving the high and sense of control it gives me… Remembering the exhaustion of climbing stairs, the constant anxiety, the distance from my loved ones.”

    Getting to a place of recovery is an accomplishment in its own right. But it requires hard work, focus and dedication, as Malcolm said. “I am not the result of one massive lifestyle change. I am a culmination of every little action I do throughout the day. Living in recovery is extremely challenging.”

    View the original article at thefix.com