#eatingdisorder
Vanessa Ricciardi is a family counsellor at the Alberta Health Services eating disorder program, working as part of a multi-disciplinary team with patients in various demographics. Patients are as young as 10 but range in age, including men and women in their sixties.
Here’s how Instagram can prolong eating disorders
By Deanna Tucker
On Instagram? Whether you’re in line for a morning coffee or crawling into bed, it’s likely that several times a day, you’re checking your feed. For many, scrolling through the images means users are inundated with photos of sculpted bodies and captions promoting easy fitness and eating plans and aesthetic appeal.
While these fitness and health accounts are gaining popularity and their owners receiving a lot of attention, the unregulated industry begs the question – are these accounts helping or hurting its audience?
When it comes to those suffering with eating disorders, psychologist Vanessa Ricciardi
says regardless of the good intentions of fitness influencers, people with the illness are looking through a distorted lens. For those with a preoccupation with weight and shape, this has troubling effects.
“What’s challenging about social media is that it can be done in isolation and secrecy. If you’re not exposing yourself to reality, you can make reality of the images you’re seeing online. It can be consuming,” she says.
The family counsellor says the population of people she works with may be mostly female, but males are susceptible too. She explains although there may be various reasons for this, in her experience, there appears to an increase in males seeking support for eating disorders.
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“It could be related to the diagnostic criteria shifting a little bit, however we are definitely noticing that males are part of our patient population.”
Me in the mirror
Whether or not social media has been involved as part of the problem or solution for someone with an eating disorder, Ricciardi says either is absolutely possible. “When people are struggling with an eating disorder, it really distorts their perception of self.”
She says it isn’t necessarily the content that is being provided, but rather how the content is being interpreted by the person with an eating disorder.
In fact, Ricciardi says she doesn’t believe everything on social media is necessarily distorted or inaccurate, even as a user of social media herself. Although the relationship between social media and eating disorders isn’t causal, she does recognize how social media could impact an eating disorder sufferer.
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“I don’t want to draw a connection that social media use will lead to an eating disorder, but we can definitely see sometimes how that can perpetuate illness, or if somebody is susceptible to developing an eating disorder.”
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Part of the problem with social media for someone with an eating disorder is its accessibility, and anonymity. Combine these secretive features with a need to measure up, and individuals can put themselves at greater risk for unhealthy behaviours.
“What we know about eating disorders is that they’re extremely competitive. So when somebody’s struggling with an eating disorder, there is a lot of pressure, in some instances, to be the thinnest.”
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Starved and dangerous
This can be a concern for those with eating disorders, especially if the brain is already starved.
“When the brain is malnourished, thinking patterns can become extremely rigid. You see things as very ‘all-or-nothing. This makes it difficult to critically evaluate some of the messages that may be coming in while someone with the illness is looking at images on Instagram.”
A starved brain evokes further preoccupation with food.
“I’ve heard in my work that patients will report that scrolling through some of these food images feels like a virtual consumption.” She says the patients won’t allow themselves to have the food, “but looking at a picture of it is filling that need to some degree.”
Social media platforms like Instagram were created to connect people. Creating a sense of community is oftentimes what people are looking for, and that can be done through something as simple as searching through hashtags.
“Hashtags – it invites a certain population, a sense of connection,” Ricciardi says.
She goes on to explain when someone is motivated and wants to become part of a community, they will spend time looking at images to connect. Although there is potential to find a healthy community through hashtags like “#bodypositivity” there is also the chance people with eating disorders will distort these messages.
The more time people spend looking at images with popular hashtags like “#instafit,”“#thinspiration” or “#transformationTuesday,” the less they see their current reality as reality.
Curious and critical viewing habits
To ensure people are engaging in content that is actually beneficial to their whole health, Ricciardi suggests Instagram users consider what she calls responsible viewing.
Asking questions like, ‘What am I viewing?’ and, ‘How do I feel after looking at any image?’ will help consumers have more control over internalized content.
“Is this aligning with health promoting behaviours, or is this aligning with something else?” says Ricciardi.
She also recommends being curious about your viewing habits. Deciding what is helpful as an individual is key. “What one person may find helpful can be really damaging to someone else.”
Can fitness inspiration quotes impact eating disorder sufferers?
Vanessa Ricciardi takes some time to read a few popular fitness inspiration quotes and share how they might be perceived by someone with an eating disorder, or susceptible to an eating disorder.
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