Body Image Counselling

At its most basic level, body image is simply what a person thinks, feels, and believes about their body. However, it's also an important part of personal identity, so these simple facts become fraught with meaning, especially in a society that bombards us with harsh messages about bodies and how they affect our worth.

Body image involves an individual's thoughts about the size and shape of their body, their perceptions of how others see them, the actions taken to care for their body, and the methods used to monitor, alter, or conceal it.  Body image, among other factors such as genetics and culture can also influence eating disorders. The feedback received from people in their social circle, the media, and social media plays a significant role in influencing these aspects.

Body image can be challenging for many people. Our culture often makes it difficult to develop a healthy relationship with our bodies, and negative messages can shape how we see ourselves from a young age.

While struggles with body image are common, it’s important to remember that you can take steps to build a more positive self-image.

• Using harsh or unkind words to describe yourself
• Comparing your appearance to others on a regular basis
• Finding it difficult to accept compliments about your body
• Feeling persistent worry or fear about gaining weight

• Linking your self-worth or happiness to achieving a certain look or weight
• Believing you’ll only feel satisfied or confident if you reach a specific appearance goal
• Sharing only filtered or edited photos of yourself on social media

Examining Negative Messaging 

The first messages we hear about our bodies come from our families. Parents and other relatives speak disparagingly about their own bodies, giving children a negative association with being overweight or different in any way. These messages can also be directed at children. It's not uncommon for family members to criticize the bodies of young children and warn them that there are consequences of not being vigilant about maintaining a certain appearance.

In therapy, with the help of your counsellor's outside perspective, you can take a closer look at the internalized messages you grew up with. Are they true? Are they helping you or hurting you? Parents often pass along the beliefs they grew up with, not intending to cause harm, but their experience doesn't mean you have to continue that cycle.

Challenging Distortions

Unrealistic images of bodies are nothing new. Ads and other media representations have long presented manipulated pictures, leading people to judge themselves by unattainable standards. But these days, those unrealistic images have invaded our lives in overwhelming numbers.

Social media sites swamp users with edited photos that make it look like everyone else has a perfect life and a perfect body. Especially for adolescents and young adults, this has been shown to have a negative impact on how they see themselves. In fact, research shows that simply reducing social media use significantly improves body image in this age group. 

In therapy, you can come to understand the motivations behind these images. Businesses flood people with negative messages about how they look because it's an effective way to manipulate them to buy their products. Not only is it impossible for the average person to look like that, it's not even possible for the people in the pictures to look like that. Filters and photo editing create pictures that are literally unreal. 

Therapy can help you change how you look at these images, and help you set up boundaries to protect you from the messages they promote.

Self-Acceptance & Compassion

A therapist can help you challenge the distortions in your thinking that make you believe that your appearance is unacceptable. There are many ways to think about our bodies and what is important about them. Learning to appreciate your body for what it does, how it works, and the sensory gifts it gives you is a powerful way to escape the message that your value lies in how you look.