LiveJournal has been somewhat infamous over the years as a home to pro-ana writers and communities, and other social sites such as Twitter have similar communities. Unfortunately, these communities can make these destructive behaviors worse by validating them and providing a sense of community acceptance. For a mild sufferer, this could mean the difference between an early intervention and an accelerated path to the worst possible outcomes. Similarly, communities of bulimia nervosa communities exist, where the term pro-mia is used. Participants in both communities anthropomorphize the diseases via these shortened names anorexia is sometimes referred to as a girl named Ana, as is bulimia’s Mia. There’s no shortage of crime shows featuring episodes where antagonists manipulated discussions taking place on pro-suicide websites to egg people on to take their own lives.

What you may not know is that these communities do exist. People, teenagers and adults alike, discuss their suicidal feelings and talk about the best way to get the job done.

Members of these communities tend to believe nobody can help them, that the rest of the world doesn’t understand, and that the best thing you can do is learn how to do it cleanly if you are already feeling that way.Ī Practical Guide to Suicide is one infamous document from this community, with a little prefacing encouraging readers to seek medical help if they haven’t already.

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