Eating disorders and Instagram

Abstract

Patients and professionals of the Eating Disorders Unit of Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona have set up the Instagram account @stoptca_sjd as a therapeutic tool. Instagram is currently the second most used social network by adolescents and the one that most affects their mental health. It allows us to access content easily 24 hours a day, which makes it easier for irrational thoughts to appear, increasing comparisons and causing an increase in body dissatisfaction. Patients actively participate in publishing content with the validation of the professionals. The initiative aims to offer an alternative discourse to that of other social network profiles and blogs that promote eating disorders as a lifestyle. One of the objectives is to raise awareness among young people and to prevent eating disorders. With this Instagram account, the aim is to encourage patients to become aware of their problem and to increase motivation to make changes, two fundamental steps in the therapeutic process. The profile went live on 20 March 2019 and the number of followers exceeds 22,000. More than 350 private messages have been received from people affected by an eating disorder and family members. It is the patients themselves who provide the response, with the supervision and validation of the unit’s professionals. @stoptca_sjd has become the first Instagram account of hospital patients in Spain.