To assess the correlation with themes found on ‘pro-ana’ websites and the DSM-V diagnosable mental illness, anorexia nervosa, the author analyzes the top 30 frequently visited pro-ana websites from the most commonplace search engines, Google, Yahoo, and Bing!. Pro-anorexia, or pro-ana, websites take a positive and encouraging attitude towards eating disorders. The majority of website content explicitly encourages extreme thinness and advocate anorexia as a lifestyle choice, even a ‘religion,’ rather than an illness. This research examines the meaning of participation in a pro-anorexia website along with the content of each site and its relationship with common themes in DSM-V recognized disordered eating and eating disorders.
