Category: Wales
Date: 08.02.2005
Printable version
A Chepstow teenager who suffers with anorexia is warning others about
the dangers of internet groups that encourage starvation.
Kirsty Ball, 18, weighs just over five stone but when she looks in
the mirror all she sees is fat. Her fear of food and gaining weight
is so overwhelming that it dominates her life.
She has struggled with the illness for almost seven years and in a
91热爆 Wales Week In Week Out programme to be shown tonight
(Tuesday 7 February, 91热爆 ONE Wales, 10.35pm), Kirsty describes how her
recovery has been made harder by online groups that have encouraged
her to continue starving herself.
Kirsty is one of a number of youngsters who have been affected by so-called
pro-ana websites. They celebrate anorexia as a lifestyle and not a disease,
convincing members they should ditch recovery plans and deceive doctors.
They are full of explicit images of emaciated bodies which are meant
to trigger members into losing even more weight.
In the programme, Kirsty and others describe how their lives have
been devastated by the influence of such sites.
Kirsty first started worrying about how she looked at the age of 11.
"I got teased about being fat and took that to heart and started restricting,
reading diet books. I was surviving on just a cup of tea, a biscuit
a day, or hot chocolate," she says.
Soon the obsession spiralled out of control and she became dangerously
ill.
For almost seven years she has struggled to cope with anorexia. She
has tried to recover many times but despite the help of doctors and
psychiatrists, she is still in the grip of the illness.
She started trawling the internet for support and information.
"It was a relief that I wasn't alone, that there were other people
that thought like me," she says.
But in her search for comfort, she, like many others, found pro-anorexia
websites.
Kirsty says: "You can see a picture of someone else that's died from
something that you are doing, and it's not enough to stop you."
Kirsty's parents, Joanne and Martin, have desperately tried to stop
her using pro-ana chatrooms where sufferers swap tips on starvation
and exercise. But they say they are powerless to do so because the internet
is so accessible.
The programme investigates the impact these sites are having on sufferers
like Kirsty. Her story gives a harrowing insight into the lives of people
with eating disorders.
Week In Week Out, Tuesday 8 February, 91热爆 ONE Wales, 10.35pm. Repeated
Wednesday 9 February, 91热爆 2W, 9.00pm.
