Anorexia Nervosa and the Internet

[MUSIC PLAYING]

STEPHANIE: For two tablespoons, there's 10 calories.

REPORTER: For much of the last 20 years, Stephanie has defined her days in numbers.

STEPHANIE: Chewing gum, I have about four sticks a day. That has five calories in it.

REPORTER: Always counting the number of calories she eats in a day. 500 calories a day?

STEPHANIE: Hm-mm.

REPORTER: And if you eat, say, 600 calories in a day, how do you feel?

STEPHANIE: Oh, I feel guilty. I feel guilty.

REPORTER: But the number that really concerns her is the number on the scale.

STEPHANIE: And I thought, you know what? I'll be happy if I get down to 135. I'm 5'7". That's normal. I saw pictures of myself. My cheeks were huge. So then I got down to where I am now. And I wear a size zero now.

REPORTER: How much do you weigh?

STEPHANIE: 105.

REPORTER: And how much do you want to weigh.

STEPHANIE: I'll know when I get there.

REPORTER: Stephanie is well aware she suffers from an eating disorder, anorexia, and that it's dangerous not only for her but her four children. Stephanie is a single mother. Anorexia can kill people. Are you worried about leaving your children behind?

STEPHANIE: Yes. I am. And that's one of the reasons why I cry every day. I can't help it. It's a disease. I mean, I might as well have cancer because I could die any time.

REPORTER: Stephanie wouldn't allow us to show her children because of something else she does. She helps run a controversial website for anorexics, and she gets hate mail because of it.

STEPHANIE: We get, you should die. Eat a freaking sandwich. I don't know why people hate us that much. We don't hurt anybody.

REPORTER: Critics disagree. They say such pro-anorexia, or pro-ana sites, with their pictures and shared stories promote the eating disorder. But Stephanie doesn't see it that way.

STEPHANIE: It's a shoulder to cry on. We're there to listen. We want people who go to that site who have an eating disorder to know that we've been through that or we're going through it.

DR. PATRICIA SANTUCCI: It's not so much the existence of the website, per se, it's the portrayal and misinformation.

REPORTER: Dr. Patricia Santucci runs a national organization helping those with eating disorders. She's alarmed by the pro-ana sites and the secrets they share.

DR. PATRICIA SANTUCCI: And that's what the scary part is. You know? How do fool your doctor. How to fudge your weight. How to lose more weight. You know, what to eat so you won't feel hungry. How to vomit. So, yeah, all the trade secrets are exchanged.

REPORTER: There are dozens of sites.

DR. PATRICIA SANTUCCI: It helps them stay in the anorexia.

REPORTER: Dr. Santucci showed me several she considers dangerous. Total for the day, 185 calories.

DR. PATRICIA SANTUCCI: That's right. This is what they're advocating.

REPORTER: Which is why her group is trying to get various servers to shut down the pro-ana sites.

DR. PATRICIA SANTUCCI: We educate them about eating disorders. Then they make up that decision—is this really a destructive website? And they decide whether they want to take it off or not.

REPORTER: There are also sites aimed at helping anorexics recover. But Stephanie says they didn't help her.

STEPHANIE: I felt worse about myself. You know, I felt like a freak. I'm not normal. I mean, they're lucky because they got over it. They survived it. And that doesn't leave me anything.

REPORTER: On pro-ana sites, Stephanie feels she's found a camaraderie, but one that may prove deadly as she continues to log on and lose weight. Do you think you're ever going to recover?

STEPHANIE: I'd like to think to myself I will, but it's not going to happen tomorrow.