#EATINGDISORDERFAMILY En netnografisk studie om anorexia nervosa och Instagram som forum för recovery

Abstract

The act of engaging in online communities on social media has become rather usual. Individuals diagnosed with mental illnesses such as anorexia nervosa that take part of said online communities do so with the aim to communicate with likeminded, allowing them to both to express thoughts as well as receive point of views expressed by others. This qualitative study aims to observe the substance of posts and interactions within this recovery community, to recognize strategies used by the individuals intending to demonstrate their membership of the community. Furthermore we aim to gain circumstantial understanding regarding the effects caused by being a member. A netnographic approach was applied to an assortment of 100 posts that were selected from 20 different Instagram accounts belonging to swedish women at the age of 15-22 years, all openly discussing their diagnosed anorexia nervosa. A content analysis was thereafter conducted on the posts and the interaction amongst the members of the community. The study showed that the individuals were giving off expressions of experiencing being worthy or not being worthy the diagnosis anorexia nervosa. Expressions of that kind were distinguished in both attempts to emphasize eating disorder symptoms as well as attempts to guide the other members in their recovery. These findings suggest that social media activity such as engaging in communities of this sort can bring about a variety of effects to the individuals committed to the community. The individuals are creating a social identity based on features distinguishing the group, which is defined by recovery engagement. However, the membership of the community first and foremost requires a social identity constituted by an illness identity. Therefore we suggest that, engagement in these communities might cause individuals to maintain the eating disorder, due to these individuals’ indications of desired belonging of the community.