Pro-Ana Forums

Pro-Ana is a term used for online forums and chat rooms that began popping up on the web in 2001. Pro-Ana forums exist to this day as a way for individuals with eating disorders (most commonly anorexia nervosa) to share support, anecdotes, advice, and a venue in which to discuss a psychological disorder often kept under wraps. The forums were used as a way for many sufferers of anorexia (mostly young women) to converge and seek help from other affected persons. There was, however, some backlash toward these types of forums because a portion of the users were present on the sites because they sought new diet methods, and wrongly assumed that individuals diagnosed with anorexia nervosa would have healthy solutions.