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Online Support Groups to Help Maintain Recovery during Holidays
Contributor: Leigh Bell, BA, writer for Eating Disorder Hope
If you’re home for the holidays and fighting for recovery from an eating disorder, an online support group isn’t the only support you’ll need but it could get you through in a pinch.
Research underscores the important role support groups play in recovery from eating disorders, for which relapse is frighteningly high at roughly 30-50%. [1]
Support groups have even proven prevention of disordered eating in middle-school students. [2] Individuals receive from support groups vast amounts of encouragement, information, and the feeling they aren’t “the only one.”
Be Careful
You won’t have any trouble finding an online support group for eating disorders, but use care when you’re searching and participating. Online we don’t get the same aural and visual cues present in face-to-face interactions, some meanings can be misinterpreted. There’s little control over who can participate in these forums, and some signing on may provide hurtful or dangerous information.
Also there many pro-eating-disorder sites you can stumble on while searching for healthy support groups. If your recovery is new, it’s likely fragile and these “Pro Ana” sites could compromise it.
Even more frightening, recent news reports say pedophiles and sexual predators have taken to “Pro-Ana” sites and others aimed at those with eating disorders, seeing these individuals as more vulnerable. [3] While such cases are likely rare, they speak to the precautions necessary when using the internet for support groups of any nature.
Support Groups Can Help
Little research exists on the general benefit of support groups in prevention and/or recovery from an eating disorder, but what’s out there shows these groups can be helpful.
For example, one study of 214 7th- and 8th-grade girls — who are typically in the throes of adolescence, body changes, and examining self-image — looked at the effect of a school-based peer-support group designed to improve body image, self-esteem, and to reduce negative eating attitudes and behaviors.
Of the 214 study participants, the 115 who were in the support group had increased weight-related self-esteem and decreases in dieting (McVeya et. al, 2003).
However, one should use caution when accessing the internet for support with an eating disorder for several reasons. Such online forums and even traditional support groups may spread eating-disordered behaviors, one study posits. [4]
“Social contagiousness may be more likely to occur within the high-density environments of eating disorder communities, such as special websites or online forums and clinical settings in which eating-disordered patients are treated together,” writes the study’s author Walter Vandereycken, M.D., Ph.D, University of Leuven, Belgium.
Community Discussion – Share your thoughts here!
What has been your experience with online support for eating disorder recovery?
References
[1]: Franco, K. (2012, March 1). Eating Disorders. Retrieved July 15, 2015, from www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/psychiatry-psychology/eating-disorders/Default.htm[2]: McVeya, G., Liebermanb, M., Voorbergc, N., Wardropec, D., & Blackmored, E. (2003). School-based peer support groups: A new approach to the prevention of disordered eating. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, 11(3), 169-185.
[3]: Smith, J. (2015, June 11). Pedophiles Have Found a New Place to Target Potential Victims. And It Is Truly Sick. Retrieved July 15, 2015, from http://www.ijreview.com/2015/06/342860-pedophiles-found-new-place-online-lurk-horrifying/who were in the support group had increased weight-related self-esteem and decreases in dieting (McVeya et. al, 2003).
[4]: Vandereycken, W. (2012). How ‘contagious’ can eating disorders be in the eyes of patients? Eating Disorders Review, 23(2).
About the Author: Leigh Bell holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with minors in Creative Writing and French from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She is a published author, journalist with 15 years of experience, and a recipient of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism. Leigh is recovered from a near-fatal, decade-long battle with anorexia and the mother of three young, rambunctious children.
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.
We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.
Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on November 16, 2015
Published on EatingDisorderHope.com
The EatingDisorderHope.com editorial team comprises experienced writers, editors, and medical reviewers specializing in eating disorders, treatment, and mental and behavioral health.
