Information impact on the personality on the Internet as one of the predictors of the frequency of relapses of eating disorders

The article considers the information impact on the individual on the Internet as one of the predictors of the frequency of relapses of eating disorders. In the introduction, the author reveals the relevance of the topic, which is determined by the prevalence of eating disorders and the growing popularity of information on the Internet about nutrition, weight loss, as well as the romanticization of eating disorders. The author also defines the concepts of remission and relapse of eating disorders, explains the pathogenesis of the disease. The novelty of the study is to consider the information impact on the individual on the Internet as a predictor of the frequency of relapses of eating disorders. In the section «Discussion of results», the author focuses on the results of the study confirming the impact of information on a person suffering from an eating disorder. The author notes that information from non-authoritative sources positively correlates with the presence of symptoms of an eating disorder. An unexpected conclusion is that, regardless of the category of information sources used, respondents have a similar severity of symptoms. In conclusion, it is concluded that: 1) there is a pronounced relationship between the informational impact on the individual and the severity of symptoms of eating disorders; 2) the informational impact on the individual can be represented in the form of propaganda of excessive thinness as an ideal of body image, romanticization of eating disorders, as well as propaganda of incorrect ways to lose weight; 3) among those who participate in communities promoting eating disorders, the symptoms of eating disorders are more pronounced; 4) the choice of information sources depends on the age of the respondent; 5) authoritative sources of information (recommendations of the WHO, RAMS, library systems ScienceDirect, PubMed) are practically not used by respondents; 6) destructive information impact on eating behavior can be carried out latently, regardless of the person's directed study of truthful information about weight loss.

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