The Complexities of Body Image

I talk a lot about how much I enjoy leading my weekly body image group at work, so today I thought would be the perfect time to take a deeper dive into this specific terminology.

In general, "body image" can be defined as "A picture someone has in their mind about their size/shape, et. al., and the attitudes that they form towards themselves."  Because of this, there are actually three components of body image I like to explain more in-depth with clients.

1. the Perceptual part: how someone sees their body

2. the Attitudinal part: how someone feels about how they look

3. the Behavioral part: how these perceptions and attitudes influence someone's behavior(s).

In essence, how we see ourselves can have a major impact on our thoughts, feelings, and ultimately actions towards our whole self (body, mind & spirit).

What's also interesting is that I have found in my counseling sessions most people assume this topic is only fixated on surface level body image  - meaning, they believe it solely revolves around how we feel about our external looks.  However, I truly believe that because humans are multi-layered beings, our physical presentation is only a minor facet of ourselves.  How I describe body image is that it encapsulates our entire being.  It is our perceptions, our attitudes and our beliefs on things such as our values, our identities, our goals, our self-esteem, self-worth, mental health, and so much more. 

In my professional opinion, this is where most body image recovery tools and treatments fail to acknowledge. By solely discussing very basic concepts such as the harms of photoshop, social media, and mirror/body checking behaviors, (while all important to process when needed), it misses the bigger conversation. Eating disorders may present to the external world as issues with just food and body image....but in the mental health world we know they are more than 'just food and body image issues.'

Take for example,  the ice berg example above - someone with an eating disorder may be fixated on food and changing their body/weight/shape....but you may never know what's really going on in that person's brain (ex: the need for control, trauma responses, desire for perfectionism, wanting to numb out emotions, craving emptiness, wanting to feel successful, etc).  The treatment of eating disorders and body image concerns is so complicated because there are many layers clients may present with...some of which to a lay person would never think has any correlation with food or bodies.  Eating disorder symptom use is merely another vice or coping skill when we are unable to regulate our internal system in a healthy way.

Body positivity is also a term I've steered away from in the last year or two. Not that it doesn't serve a purpose for a specific audience - but in my discussions with clients and staff, it's often misinterpreted that there's somehow an "end goal" to our body image journey; that one day we will wake up and be happy with ourselves and experience no more distress around it.  Unfortunately, this just isn't reality.  Our relationships to our bodies will always ebb and flow - just like any other relationship in our daily lives.  

I use the spectrum above to help client's identify where they land on their current relationship with themselves.  Even if by chance someone embraces that term of positivity, if they're currently relating to the "Body Hate" category, Body Positivity would actually be an impossible short term goal to reach.  This is why I'm so passionate about language such as Body Respect, Body Neutrality or Body Appreciation....it takes a concept that seems so daunting to some, and breaks it down to be more accessible.  Makes sense why someone who identifies as hating their body would NOT resonate with the affirmation "I love my body!"  Instead, a more realistic alternative could be "I am safe;"  "I respect my body;" or "I am worthy of nourishment."

As with all important conversations, body image is more complex than we ever historically believed.  Body image distress knows no boundaries - it impacts all genders, sexual orientations, races, ethnic groups, health statuses, religious identities, income brackets and ages. Odds are if you have a body, you've experienced dissatisfaction at one time or another. My suggestion is for all of us to reflect internally on what is really going on when we feel dissatisfied with anything in our personal lives.  Because likely, there's more to it than meets the eye.