Eating Disorders and Social Media

Show Notes

 

What role is Social Media playing a role in causing eating disorders or disordered eating?

Are the effects of Social Media making treatment of eating disorders more challenging? 

In this podcast episode, Kate Fisch speaks with Dr. Samantha DeCaro about Social Media. She discusses the effects that Social Media has on patients recovering from eating disorders and the role it plays in causing disordered eating.

 

MEET DR. SAMANTHA DECARO

Dr. Samantha DeCaro, PsyD is the Director of Clinical Outreach and Education for The Renfrew Center, a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania, and co-host of the podcast All Bodies, All Foods. She has been with Renfrew since 2012, completing her post-doctoral residency at The Renfrew Center Philadelphia – Spring Lane, then holding the position of Primary Therapist, and most recently serving as Assistant Clinical Director. 

As Renfrew’s national spokesperson, Dr. DeCaro has been featured in the media as an eating disorder expert on various television shows, radio programs, podcasts, and online magazines. She is a frequent lecturer and serves as the Alumni Representative for The Renfrew Center of Philadelphia.

Visit The Renfrew Center to find out more.

 

IN THIS PODCAST

• The focus on Social Media

• What are Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia sites?.

• What risk factors do Social Media pose for eating disorders?

• What makes eating disorder recovery so challenging?.

 

Why did you choose to focus on Social Media and eating disorders?

“I do a lot of trainings and education in my role and I realized that Social Media was really having a negative impact on people who were trying to recover from eating disorders.”

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

Are you on Social Media?

“I'm on social media myself. I knew that it was causing certain issues for me as well. I noticed I wasn't feeling great after I was done scrolling. I was realizing I was spending more time on it than I wanted to be.”

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

It is interesting that even professionals within the field can be affected by Social Media and it puts an emphasis on making sure we are aware if it is leaving us in a more negative space.

 

“Absolutely, I am in no way Immune to the effects of social media. I think it impacts all of us and I wanted to learn more about it.”

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

What are Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia sites?

“I remember earlier in my career learning about Pro-ana Pro-mia, which were essentially these sites, and it's exactly what it sounds like, pro anorexia, pro eating disorder type content.”

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

There are so many different apps out there that we may know very little about and thinking of it from the perspective of being a treatment provider, it is vital that we become familiar with all the different platforms that our clients may be exposed to or using.

 

“I remember being so concerned and horrified about the things that were happening on those sites and now with social media. Yes, I think those things still exist, to an extent, but I think that the harm is a lot more insidious. It's a lot harder to catch the different toxic messages about food, about the body.”

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

Do we need to learn to be more mindful when using Social Media?

“What I do in my trainings, I try to help Clinicians help their clients be more mindful on social media. How to help your client tap into what they're experiencing while they're scrolling. You might be strengthening that eating disorder without even realizing it. ”

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

That's interesting because it's almost like we teach our clients how to be mindful at the table  or how to be mindful in their relationships, how to be mindful even just right in the moment.. But this is a kind of Meta  in the way that it's like another virtual environment in which they have to be mindful in.

 

“ Oftentimes scrolling is an act of distraction. I think that's another thing to be aware of: when are you reaching for your phone? and why?  What is that scrolling session actually doing for you in the short term?”

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

What risk factors are there for those with eating disorders?

“We know that intentionally pursuing weight loss is going to do more harm than good. diets are one of the biggest risk factors of an eating disorder. Diets can trigger an eating disorder and eating disorders are potentially fatal.”

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

We know that many of those who come off diets and have not developed an eating disorder, still end up having a poor relationship with food and not feeling good about themselves.

 

What makes eating disorder recovery so challenging?

“Eating disorder recovery is so challenging because there's an unlearning that has to take place. An unlearning of diet culture, an unlearning of healthism and relearning how to have a healthier relationship with food, with your body and with the media.”

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

What tools do you use or teach clinicians to use?

“One of the things that I think is so important is being able to actually spot harmful messages and tease those out and be able to spot toxic messages about food.” 

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

A lot of messages give the impression that all bodies are the same. For example; that you're going to eat a turkey sandwich and your body is going to do exactly the same thing with that turkey sandwich as my body is going to do with it. We know now that we don't know what the differences are and how people's bodies absorb nutrients and the differences between them.

 

Can anything be done to reduce the chances of seeing harmful content?

“I also teach in my workshops about how to play with your settings in your phone to better protect yourself and to essentially just lessen the chances/decrease the chances that you'll see harmful content in the future.” 

Dr. Samantha DeCaro

 

The world of Social Media is everywhere and we cannot get away from it. When we are scrolling through our phones. We're not in the moment. We are trying to be distracted, it becomes repetitive and reflexive and then we're not the owners of the information that we are consuming.

There are studies showing what type of information gets fed to our clients and how they can fall prey to negative body image, eating disorders and diet culture.

This is a fascinating topic and as therapists we need to become aware of what we are consuming, as well as, help teach our clients to be mindful about what they're consuming.

Dr. Samantha DeCaro is filled with valuable insights, information and examples of Social Media’s role within our industry and some of these are discussed in-depth throughout the podcast.

 

 To learn more about Dr. Samantha DeCaro and her work, follow the links below.

RESOURCES MENTIONED AND USEFUL LINKS

Visit The Renfrew Centre 

 

Previous Episode: Eating Disorders and Bariatric Surgery with Sharon Ryan

 

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