SUMMARY
The article analyzes the peculiarities of language self-presentation of Internet users. The results of the study of nicknames as means of linguistic self-presentation of persons with eating disorders in the specialized Internet forums are presented.The psychological analysis of users’ nicknames of sites of anorexic and overweight individuals is presented which gives an opportunity to assert that nicknames reflect the specific nutritional problem and self-administration of a person in connection with it. The predominance of the female audience of such sites is revealed and hence the greater urgency of the problem of standards of the body for women. In the process of analysis, on the basis of psycholinguistic and projective approaches, the main categories of nicknames are singled out: exo-decorative names; metaphorical, decorative and mysterious nicknames; mythical and fantasy characters; destructive, problem image; names that reflect the physical status, etc.It has been established that nicknames as attributes of linguistic self-presentation of users of specialized forums, is a symbolic projection of the discourse of their existence and reveals the features of real or desired body parameters; dissatisfaction with weight, with your body, yourself and life in general; fixation on the issue of nutrition and weight reduction; the desire to be fenced off from reality. Differences in the linguistic self-presentation of anorexics and overweight individuals are revealed, in particular, a more positive modality of self-presentation of overweight individuals; the representation of various categories of linguistic self-presentation in these groups which allows to assert the difference in the mechanisms of psychological protection in these groups of users. The analysis of the features of nicknames as a means of linguistic self-presentation is useful both for the purpose of psychodiagnostics of people with eating disorders, as well as in the process of developing and providing them with psychological assistance.