Eating Disorder Therapist Reviews Body Positivity Hashtags

Eating Disorders + Hidden Meanings Behind Hashtags

If you’ve been around the internet for even a little while, you’ve likely heard about trending hashtag campaigns like #fitspo and #thinspo. These hashtags stand for “fitness” and “thin,” plus inspiration, respectively and are most common on platforms like Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest.

While touted as a motivational plea for the viewer to be healthy, have body positivity, stay on track at the gym, and eat healthy—they can often have a darker side.

Hashtags can perpetuate society’s agenda to squash the “obesity epidemic” by proposing that following a strict diet or fitness regime can be a great asset to your health when done in moderation. Insert hashtag #misleading information! Often for those that suffer from an eating disorder and who consequently begin to follow such hashtags, it becomes an all-encompassing need and can be more detrimental to not only the viewer’s physical but also their emotional and mental health. This can in turn further increase the staggering statistics for prevailing eating disorders.

While many hashtags are successfully connecting mental health sufferers with others in a positive way, there are some that serve to further the mental health disorder or even aid in them.

For reasons that you’ll hopefully understand, I am choosing not to further mention these hashtags to bring light to them. If you’re suffering from an eating disorder, please reach out to a professional as soon as possible.

How An Eating Disorder Therapist Views These Hashtags

We’ve seen hashtags create a community online, and the majority of them are positive and helpful. Some hashtags like #endstigma, #mentalhealthawareness, and #nokiddingmetoo (Joe Pantoliano’s mental health anti-stigma campaign) are born of a desire to connect with others to destigmatize mental health disorders.

Others are rooted in cultural traditions, and a reflection of the society that creates them. Hashtags like #SweatingForTheWedding and #ShedForTheWed are instances of our society’s cultural insistence that women lose weight to look their best for their wedding.

While not always a negative, hidden meanings behind the hashtags are dependent upon the viewer.

As most medical doctors indicate, it’s absolutely necessary to have a balanced exercise and eating regimen for physical and mental health reasons.

However, for many people, what begins as a positive change to their exercise routine can easily escalate beyond their control and away from body positivity. These hashtags further provide access to disordered eating education, in the name of health.

The growth and popularity of accounts on Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media platforms that promote fitness models, activewear labels and #fitspo is potentially fostering a generation of body conscious people who think compulsive exercise is necessary to look like the people in the accounts that they follow.

Embracing #bodypositivity and #bodyappreciation is the goal to alleviate negative body image and the emergence of disordered eating. Some posts and people will tell you to love your body while others will tell you to fight it.

Some will tell you your body is your ally, and others will try to convince you that it’s your enemy. Some posts will share useful information backed by research and science, and others will be misinformed and/or have dangerous implications.

It’s up to you to reach out to an eating disorder therapist for help if you are experiencing struggles with body image and your relationship with food.

What Are Eating Disorders?

Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, and Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders (OSFED) are often linked to these hashtags. There is a fine line between extremely regimented eating for health reasons and eating disorders. The continued emphasis on eating and extreme workout plans can often become a slippery slope into an eating disorder.

Eating disorders are defined by the DSM-5 as serious disturbances in eating behavior, and often include extreme calorie deficit, reduction, and limitations. Eating can also disorders be characterized by severe overeating, as well as feelings of distress and concern about body image, shape, or weight.

Appropriate, intuitive, and healthy eating is a life skill that many people with eating disorders cannot typically achieve without professional help. Eating disorders currently affect approximately 25 million Americans, of which approximately 25% are male. Additionally, anorexia has the highest mortality rate among all psychological disorders.

Get Help From An Eating Disorder Therapist

If you’re struggling with what you’re seeing online or on social media, talking with a trained eating disorder therapist can help you determine if you’re headed in the right direction with your health.

Whether it’s the voice of an eating disorder (“ED”) or inner critic that instructs you to not love yourself, restoration IS possible! You can work with a trained eating disorder therapist to determine where you are struggling and devise a plan together to offer you the support and help you need.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an eating disorder, contact an eating disorder therapist right away. Call 720-306-1631 to set up your free 30 minute consultation where we can check in with what’s present for you and you may ask a trained eating disorder therapist any questions you might have. Feel free to reach out however it is most comfortable for you.