NEDA TOOLKIT for Educators
Perfect Illusions
www.pbs.org/perfectillusions/index.html These Public Broadcasting System (PBS) webpages are
based on a NOVA television program documentary.
The site provides information on eating disorders with
personal stories and links to treatment resources.
Project HEAL
www.theprojectheal.org/ Project HEAL: Help to Eat, Accept and Live is a 501(c)
not-for-profit organization that provides scholarship
funding for people with eating disorders who cannot
afford treatment.
Websites to Beware of
Some websites actually encourage people to become
bulimic or to maintain their bulimic behavior by giving
tips and emotional support on binge eating and purging
or restricting behaviors. These sites are called “pro-mia”
for “promoting or proactive bulimia nervosa” and there
are also pro-ana (pro-anorexia) sites.
Web searches for support sites may turn up pro-mia
or pro-ana sites as well. The sites show pictures of
very thin supermodels or “thinspiration” intended to
invoke the desire to lose more weight. They encourage
the behavior through chat rooms, poems, weight loss
diaries, and personal stories. Although most of these
sites give explicit warnings that they are pro-ana or
pro-mia and may contain triggers for relapse, it is still
very important to be aware of them because they may
pose a threat to anyone who is in recovery. Many of
these sites are transient and new ones emerge as older
sites disappear online.
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