Should I Tell? Online Accounts of Disclosing an Eating Disorder
Abstract
Disclosing one’s mental illness can be difficult for individuals, particularly those with eating disorders. Individuals struggling with eating disorders fear that judgment, misunderstanding, and stigmatization may result from disclosing the illness with others. Due to the vulnerability of disclosing face-to-face, online communities created for those with eating disorders have become increasingly popular. These online eating disorder websites (i.e., Grace on the Moon, Daily Strength, My Pro Ana) are considered safe places for individuals to communicate with anonymity. This research project utilized a situational analysis to deeply examine the online accounts of individuals who disclosed or spoke about disclosing their eating disorders. Situational analysis, a postmodern method utilizing mapping techniques to illustrate the complexity of the situation, was used to highlight heterogeneities rather than commonalities from the data. Findings demonstrated (a) fear associated with disclosing one’s eating disorder, (b) tensions and differences of recipient’s responses to disclosures, (c) conflicting discourses about eating disorders, and (d) various reasons or desires one has that prompt the disclosure of an eating disorder. Findings from this project are relevant to clinicians working with individuals with eating disorders, and shed light on the hesitation to disclose a potentially shameful experience. Further, findings have important implications for the profession of counselling psychology, and suggest the need for family based therapy and offering increased psychological services over the Internet for those with eating disorders.
Description
Keywords
Educational Psychology
Citation
Williams, E. (2016). Should I Tell? Online Accounts of Disclosing an Eating Disorder (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27778