I Y Body Image
O
•I. Body Image & Eating Disorder
•A. Positive body image & Negative body image
•B. Feelings of shame, anxiety, depression, isolation
O
•II. Ten steps of Positive Body
Image
•A. Look at yourself as a whole
person
•B. Surround yourself with
positive people
•C. Wear clothes that are
comfortable and make you feel
good about your body
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III. D &
M Pos Bod
I
A. D B. C
think
C. B
S Esteem
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•
•IV. M & E Disorders
•A. A and Media C
•B. T Ef of the Media
P a Healthy Body Image
•Few things are more central to our long-term health and happiness than how
we view ourselves. It’s imperative to always present a healthy body image.
A positive body image is paramount to how someone feels about their self.
Presenting a Positive Body Image
•When your body image is positive, you are able to accept, appreciate,
and respect your body. You won’t necessarily avoid feeling any
insecurities or think your body is perfect, but you will be able to
acknowledge any insecurities for what they are and believe that your
body is perfect for you.
Presenting a Healthy Body Image
According to clinical psychologist and faculty member Elizabeth Halsted, there are three
components to having a positive body image, or PBI:
Self-esteem: valuing ourselves and believing that others appreciate us and enjoy our company.
A positive attitude: accepting our strengths and our weaknesses, and avoiding three negative
attitudes:
a. Perfectionism: holding ideals or standards that are impossible (or next to impossible) to
achieve.
b. Comparing: making social comparisons with others.
c. Being highly critical or judgmental: the more critical and judgmental we are of others, the
more likely we are to be critical and judgmental of ourselves.
Emotional stability: maintaining a healthy connection to our thoughts and feelings while also
being able to share our experiences with others.
Presenting a Healthy Body Image
Improving your own body image can be hard, but it’s certainly doable.
We’ll describe some exercises and activities you can do to boost your
own positive body image, or PBI, but this list from the National Eating
Disorder Collaboration is full of useful suggestions on how to be more
body positive.
Presenting a Healthy Body Image
Focus on your positive qualities, skills, and talents.
Say positive things to yourself every day (practicing affirmations puts this
suggestion to use)
Avoid negative or berating self-talk
Focus on appreciating and respecting what your body can do
Set positive, health-focused goals rather than weight loss-focused goals.
Admire the beauty of others but avoid comparing yourself to anyone else.
Remind yourself that many media images are unrealistic and unattainable for the
vast majority of people.
Presenting a Health Body Image
In a 2005 study of the effects of idealized media images on college
women, researcher Renee Engeln-Maddox found that being presented
with just three advertisements featuring highly attractive female models
caused many of the women to compare themselves and their own bodies
to the idealized images they viewed.
Even when participants used the critical processing technique of
counterarguing, or generating counterarguments against unhealthy
social comparison, they still experienced appearance-related
dissatisfaction and internalization of the “thin ideal.”
Presenting a Healthy Body Image
In 2008, a meta-analysis (an analysis of the results from many studies) confirmed
the relationship between mass media images and the internalization of an unhealthy
thin ideal in women, along with dissatisfaction with one’s body.
Further, not only do advertisements and targeted messages to consumers affect our
body image, but the images we see of our friends, colleagues, and acquaintances on
social media also make an impact. In 2013, researchers Marika Tiggemann and Amy
Slater connected Facebook use to higher body image concerns in 13- to 15-year-old
girls.
P a Healt
B Im
O body image is a vital
part our self-im .
M a
H Body
I
Luckily, research has also found effective
ways to negate or reduce the ill effects of
media on body image.
The biggest thing you can do to feel better
about your body is to work on stopping the
social comparison process in its tracks. It can
be frighteningly easy to compare ourselves to
the bodies we see every day, in magazines, on
billboards, on television, and now on social
media. It’s a small step from looking at and
admiring images of “ideal” bodies and
thinking, “Why don’t I look like that?” or
“That model is so much thinner than me.”
M Healthy Body Image
I involvin body image are
in all age groups and both
in our society.
The Importance of a Healthy Body Image
Your body image (the way you feel about how you look) may not be a
reflection of what you actually look like. You may think you are thinner or
fatter than you actually are, or that parts of your body are not the shape, size
or color you would like, and this can make you feel unhappy or dissatisfied.
Lots of things can affect our body image and the way we see ourselves. Some
people use social media to make mean comments about other people’s
appearance and that can be damaging to their body image. If this happens to
you, upgrade your privacy settings or logout. Others may use mobile phones
to text comments or send humiliating photos. Deleting these texts or changing
your number can help you to ignore negative messages.
References
A , J (2015) A M -Analytic Re of Stand-
A Interventions to Impro Body Image
B , S (2020) T ef of teaching puberty
concepts on the basis of a hea belief model
improving body image
C , J (2020) Resea Review: Ef of
eating disorder prevent interventions i
body
O’D , J (2000) I the body image, eating
, and behaviors of young female
R , R (2018) BodiMojo: Ef of a Mobile
B Intervention in improving body i and Self
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