Came across a disturbing article yesterday on the Daily Telegraph out of Australia. It is about the pro-ana movement, or more formally people who are pro-anorexia. The pro-ana movement “promotes eating disorders as a lifestyle choice - not an illness.” And the newspaper identifies the people involved in these groups and websites as a “cult.”

That may be a bit of an extreme label, or it may have a strange kernel of truth to it. Looking up the trend on Wikipedia, I found a very interesting passage in that regard:

In some circles of the pro-ana movement, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are personified as women named Ana (for anorexia; hence the pro-ana movement) and Bella or Mia (for bulimia). Members use this to illustrate their loneliness: “Ana” is the only friend they can rely on when everything else feels out of control. Members of pro-ana sites come together to talk about their experiences with their shared “best friend.”

Many members of the pro-ana or anorexic “community” consider it to be a type of secret society called the “anorexic underground,” and wish to be able to identify each other at first glance. This has led to people who identify as pro-ana wearing colour-coded bracelets to signify their disease. The colours for each disorder vary, but they are generally considered to be red for anorexia nervosa, purple for bulimia nervosa, green for binge-eating, black for self-harm, blue for depression and OCD, pink for an ED-NOS, yellow for strength and hope, and orange for recovery. Some members of pro-ana make their own bracelets or buy normal bracelets that happen to be in those colours.

It’s kind of hard not to use a word like “cult” after hearing such things. This whole thing about Ana, Bella and Mia makes me think immediately that perhaps they are tapping into some kind of actual spiritual entities (or maybe have created their own). Maybe they are beautiful skeletal beings who thrive on the offerings of food these girls (and men) are giving to them, instead of eating for themselves. Some of the obsessive and unhealthy behaviors associated with these disorders may in fact be keeping with classic characteristics of spirit possession or fixation. I also heard recently that La Santisima Muerte, the Mexican folk saint appears to people as a beautiful woman’s corpse drained of blood. So, hey who knows? I wonder how people’s attitudes towards these things would change if they understood that they were possibly feeding a malicious spirit with their life energy?

Maybe that’s not so far off though from how people do view this who are suffering through it. A WebMD article quotes a pro-ana webmistress as saying:

“Most people don’t understand what it’s like: They see anorexia as a disease to be cured, but they don’t realize that it’s also a mental demon that you have to deal with every day. At sites like mine, people can talk about what they’re feeling without being judged.”

I found one pro-ana website which you can look at for some “thinspiration,” as they call it. Apparently over the past few years, most of these websites promoting this have gotten shut down or driven underground. With good reason, I suppose. Also check out this song by the band Silverchair, whose lead singer apparently battled with anorexia and wrote a song called “Ana’s Song” about his struggles against this dark spirit.