Make eating disorders visible and prevent them through social networks
The Instagram account @tcahombres was born in February 2021. For years, when I had not yet sought help to treat my eating disorder, I searched for information on the Internet and social networks to find out what was happening to me. And when I searched for the symptoms I had, I always ended up with information about anorexia, but since almost everything was written in feminine terms or aimed at girls, especially teenagers, a part of me denied that this was what was happening to me.
On my journey to recovery, I became very curious about how the disorder works, and not just as an affected person. And at the beginning of 2021, when I managed to have more strength and motivation, I realized that I had been deceiving myself for twenty years by looking for a body of a person twenty years younger than me, denying my reality and denying who I really was. Realizing this deception made me think: what if some other guy is looking for information about ED and has the same doubts as me?
So I started searching for articles and information about ED in men. There were few articles. There was less information. Seeing this reality, I asked my psychologist at the Eating Disorders Unit (UTCA) about it. Her answer was clear: "Studies are done based on the available samples. There are certainly many more men affected, but stigma and misinformation mean that they don't ask for help."
Confronting the glorification of anorexia and bulimia
Be very careful about talking about TCAs on social media.
My experience had to be useful. Helping and making anorexia and eating disorders in men visible was and is the goal of @tcahombres. Through this Instagram account I explain and share my experience in the first person as it is, fleeing victimhood and egocentrism.
This exposure to social networks talking about anorexia must be done with great care, since there are a lot of pro-ana and pro-mia pages that try to defend anorexia and bulimia. Social networks, with their positive and negative sides, can also be a danger for people who have an eating disorder or who may be vulnerable to having one. For this reason, it is very important to know what we want to look for, who we want to follow and why we want to follow that person. Millions of followers are not synonymous with quality. In fact, I have published quite a few criticisms and reports of accounts with millions of followers that provide false or dangerous information. It is therefore necessary to learn to have judgment to decide whether an account or profile is beneficial or not, and to contrast the information provided.
We need to be very careful when talking about eating disorders on social media, as there are a lot of pro-ana and pro-mia pages that try to defend anorexia and bulimia.
For this reason, the first rule when deciding to create @tcahombres was precisely to avoid any comment that would give harmful ideas to people who may have an eating disorder. For example, I can talk about food restriction, but I never mention what I did or how I did it. Just as I don't mention any numbers or what my ideal weight was or what my current weight is. I find that this information doesn't provide anything. I can't hide that my anorexia was based on food restriction and that this caused a weight loss that led me to be admitted to the day hospital. It's my reality. But what do the numbers provide? Nothing.
Basic Tips on Finding Good Mental Health Information on the Internet
My goal is clear: to offer a safe place where people can talk about ED, making it visible from my own experience. If this can help those affected, and not just boys, to feel understood, I am satisfied. But it is also an account intended for family members who have someone close to them with ED, for health professionals who can or want to have a male witness who speaks openly about it and, in general, for all people who are curious about learning about these disorders.
Sharing the experience: a help in the recovery of the TCA
I won't deny that at first exposing myself earned me a certain amount of respect. But little by little I've discovered that my account even serves as "self-therapy". Every week, I try to dedicate a post to some aspect related to the disorder (it can be eating or not) and, of course, everything I express comes from sincerity, because it would be illogical to want to get my message across if I'm not honest with myself. In other words, even though I try to have a positive attitude, if I'm having a bad week and my emotions are of suffering, why should I hide it?
Everything I express comes from sincerity, because it would be illogical to want to get my message across if I am not honest with myself.
If I can open up like this, it's thanks to all the messages of support I receive from so many people. Not only from people who have EAD, but also from family members, psychologists, psychiatrists, nutritionists... well, a long list. And this support makes me aware that what I'm explaining reaches and helps, but it also gives me strength for my recovery. And in the same way that all these people thank me for my work, I'm the first to hug them and thank them for the show of affection and the strength they give me.
In short, a news story from the newspaper El País in 2014 had the headline "Male anorexia: ignored, minority and different ". With @tcahombres I want to turn this headline upside down and lend a hand to those who need it.
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