Cultivating Eating Disorders Through Social Media: Exploring Social Media as a Barrier to Accessing Eating Disorder Treatment in Adolescents

Eating disorders are a devastating mental illness with the second highest mortality rate among mental illnesses, behind opioid use (Thompson & Park, 2016). Eating disorders tend to develop in the early adolescent years and have both psychological and physical implications (Ali et al., 2020). Despite the evidence-based practices that are beneficial in the treatment of eating disorders, over 75% of those diagnosed with an eating disorder fail to seek treatment. This is due to various barriers (Tillman et al., 2012), such as cultural stigma, access to care, and financial limitations (Ali et al., 2020; Thompson & Park, 2016).

Cultivation and objectification theories have been used as frameworks to explore and understand these barriers and why treatment is so low. Media and social media were inundated with the idealized, thin, and often edited content of women’s bodies, which frequently consisted of looks that were nearly impossible to achieve. Numerous studies found a correlation between the development of eating disorder symptoms and social media content (Hesse-Biber et al., 2006).

Gaps in treatment and understanding of the development of eating disorders have existed for a long time. Being able to understand barriers to seeking treatment and the role social media has on the development of eating disorders can help minimize this disparity in accessing care and treatment. It is essential to explore how reducing barriers by increasing access to care, reducing cultural stigma, and increasing funding can positively impact eating disorder treatment.