What Does Having a Negative Body Image Mean?

What does having a negative body image mean?

Body image is the mental picture that a person associates with their body's size, shape, and overall appearance. Body image also refers to the attitude that the individual forms towards their body's perceived physical characteristics. Therefore, body image consists of two different components, with the perception of the body being as important as the emotional reaction to this perception. A negative body image can manifest in several different ways, ranging from mild feelings of unattractiveness to an obsession with one’s physical appearance that can impair normal daily function. Body image issues are typically also followed by anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem, and eating disorders.

Other causes of poor body image and eating disorders can be obesity and body dysmorphic disorder, weakening a person and making them particularly vulnerable to bullying in academic, social, and professional environments. Both those sufferers of obesity and body dysmorphic disorder can benefit greatly from an improved body image and can benefit greatly from an improved body image and a more positive sense of themselves.

Being dissatisfied with your body commonly causes unhealthy attitudes and perceptions of the body that can lead to anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Recovering from these disorders requires ongoing maintenance and an adaptive treatment strategy, and still, nearly two-thirds of those who have recovered still deal with excessive worry about their appearance. Therefore therapy plays a key role in establishing healthier thoughts and tools to improve one’s image of their body and self-concept.

Applying an effective and empirically-proven model of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) helps those struggling with body dissatisfaction. Clients confront distorted central beliefs and core ideas that produce a negative evaluation of the self with the tools they need to identify, challenge, and replace negative self-concepts. Clients learn to rewrite their life script and rebuild positive, healthy thoughts and perceptions of their bodies.