Anorexia nervosa is a psychological illness as per the firm view of the medical community. On the other hand, the mental imbalance inherent in most anorexic patients has also given rise to a number of pro anorexia support groups all over the Internet.While most such support groups ostensibly profess support to the anorexic community, covertly they laud the patients for having chosen anorexia as a lifestyle. They are full of literature that makes anorexics proud of their thinness. These support groups promote anorexia and spread propaganda that anorexics are doing the right thing by their maintenance of extreme thinness at all costs. As most anorexics are girls in their teens, who surf a lot on the Internet, they are largely swayed by the support they receive from such 'pro ana' support groups. The word ana is 'lovingly' used by the pro anorexia movement to offer solidarity with the teen anorexics. Teen anorexics who become members of such pro anorexia support groups wear ana bracelets as a token of their membership and their solidarity with the movement.Some of these pro anorexia support groups even go to extreme lengths in their support for the anorexia lifestyle. They boldly state that other people who cannot themselves sustain thinness are jealous of the ideal body shape enjoyed by the anorexic teens. They religiously come out in open support of the foregoing of food and drink by teen anorexic patients to sustain a good body image.Teen anorexics are induced by the pro ana support groups to use starvation as a means to lose weight effectively. The support groups provide literature on their Web sites that include new dieting methods and exercising regimen. They include food purging methods that encourage teen girls to foster weight loss.They include crash dieting techniques and recipes that are low on calories. They encourage a 'thinness' competition among members They provide inspiration to teens for becoming thin and encourage 'thinspiration' video image exchanges among members.The video images may show montages of ugly looking obese women or on the other extreme extremely thin teens. Looking at the images encourages teen anorexics to go one up on their idols or encourage them to become thin by their disgust of looking at the images of extremely obese women.The support groups foster methods of how to best induce vomiting and how to make the best use of emetics and laxatives. The support groups also inform teen anorexics of how to hide their weight loss from their parents and doctors.Such support groups also have forums on their Web sites where member anorexics can express solidarity among them and spread their propaganda further.Of late there has been a clampdown on the pro anorexia support groups. Most of them have disappeared, but some of them have simply gone underground and still operate clandestinely.