Body Image
What is Body Image?
Body image refers to how you perceive your physical self; it encompasses how you think and feel about your physical appearance as well as how you think others perceive you. Body image includes size, shape, weight, features (like your skin), and movement (like how you run or get around). Our body image can be positive or negative (or both) at different times – it’s always changing. Sometimes, people can become very concerned about their body image, which can cause them distress.
All sorts of things can cause body image concerns – from the messages we receive through the media, to individual encounters with stigma or judgement, or pressure amongst peers and within group environments like a sports club. Body image can be influenced by our family and friends and how we talk about our bodies within these groups – there might be pressure to look a certain way, or we might inherit concerns about our body if those around us often talk about dieting, losing weight, or becoming a certain shape.
Negative body image isn’t just about weight – it can also include things like feeling misunderstood about your body when people make assumptions about it (for example about why you might use a wheelchair), feeling like you’re not attractive enough, struggling to find clothes which fit your body, or having birthmarks, scars, or acne which affect how you feel about your appearance.
Negative body image is usually something that is built over time until it becomes engrained, reaching the point where we become oblivious to the daily subliminal messages which affect it. In today’s society we are not only subject to adverts and body-focused media in shop windows, on billboards, and on TV, but also to the constant feeds of social media platforms. This has meant the intensity of these messages has reached a new height and it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid them.
Poor body image looks and feels different for everyone. You might notice that you are:
- Avoiding wearing certain clothing, especially tight clothes
- Avoiding activities where you must dress in a certain way which might feel uncomfortable, such as swimming
- Changing the way that you eat in the hope that it changes how you look
- Withdrawing from the things you usually do and enjoy doing
- Feeling preoccupied with how your body looks, and experiencing shame, anxiety, and feeling self-conscious about it
- Comparing your body to others’ and feeling that yours is flawed in comparison
- Avoiding mirrors, or spending a lot of time looking at yourself in the mirror and criticising what you see
Related to Body Image
Advice to help me
There are different things you can try to work towards developing a more positive body image:
Work towards reaching body neutrality – this is the practice of accepting your body without judgement, by recognizing that you don’t need to love your body in order to respect and take care of it. It’s a middle ground between body hate and body positivity, and focuses more on what your body can do, instead of how it looks.
Spend some time writing down all the positive qualities you have which aren’t linked to your physical appearance. You could ask people close to you to you help with this.
When you get caught in negative self-talk, imagine that it’s your close friend talking about themselves to you. Would you agree with them? What might you say to make them feel better? Try and practice giving the care and reassurance that you would give to a friend to yourself.
Reflect on all the wonderful things your body does for you, and enables you to do, like hugging your friends and family, running, cooking, playing sports, allowing you to explore places, experience sensory joy, and keeping you alive by breathing. If you get stuck on something that your body can’t do, think about all the ways you’ve managed to compensate for this or work around it, and try to celebrate your bodies creativity and adaptability.
Do kind things for your body, which focus on positive sensations and looking after yourself. You could take a nice warm bath, relax for an evening if you are feeling tired, or try a new moisturizer which smells nice and makes your skin feel good.
Create boundaries around body talk – this might involve letting your friends, family or caregivers know which topics of conversation are comfortable for you and which aren’t (including, for example, their diet or exercise routines). You could also tell them which TV programmes or social media you don’t want to watch or read, ask them not to comment on your looks, and ask them to use neutral descriptive words around food and weight, rather than moralistic words like ‘good’, ‘bad’, or ‘guilty pleasure’.
Build a positive social media environment around you. Even though it’s hard to fully control the media we see and the messages we receive, there are steps we can take to encourage positive body image on our feeds:
- Search for accounts with enjoyable content which you want to see more of, or accounts which help you deconstruct the negative body image that the media often pushes. By searching, following, and interacting with these accounts, you’ll teach your algorithm that you want to see more of this content.
- Unfollow or mute accounts whose content you don’t like, or which makes you feel critical of yourself, as this will make it so that you can’t see what they post. It will also tell your algorithm not to suggest similar accounts for you to look at.
- Follow a range of accounts of people who are different sizes, are from different communities, and have different hobbies, interests, or careers. It’s easy to get caught up in an ‘echo-chamber’ which tries to tell us that there is an ideal appearance everyone should be aiming for – in reality, our bodies and beauty standards across time, place, and activity are much more diverse than we give them credit for.
Reflect on this – If the “appearance ideal” as put forward by media has changed over the generations, who is driving this? Who says this is correct? Who benefits from it?
Just as we are all unique individuals, our bodies are unique too; if we are looking after ourselves, our physical health, our mental health and our overall wellbeing, our bodies will feel healthy.
Work through a ‘self-help’ resource, for example Worth Warrior – an app designed to help manage negative body image, low self-worth and early signs of eating-related difficulties.
Who can help me?
Accessing support in your local area, or on-line, may be useful if you are experiencing mental health difficulties that are having mild or moderate impact on your daily life . Based on your symptoms, age and where you live, the support below might be useful for you:
Thrive hubs can help you understand your options.
Our service is designed to advise, guide, signpost and get help for young people within Manchester currently facing mental health and emotional wellbeing issues.
Learn more about Thrive HubsFor young people looking for emotional wellbeing support, this website offers a range of information and services, including counselling, psycho-social support, and cognitive behavioural therapy.
An on-line resource with lots of advice and information for young people.
We provide mental health support within education settings across Manchester, including primary and secondary schools and colleges
Offering counselling support for young people with anxiety, depression, anger, difficult life experiences, panic attacks, struggling to cope, low self-esteem, hearing voices, unwanted thoughts or post-traumatic stress disorder.
Offering a 10-week Junior Physical Activity Referral Service (PARS) Their Children’s Healthy Lifestyle Practitioners will connect families to fun activities in your local area.
We provide mental health support within education settings across Salford, including primary and secondary schools and colleges.
Stop.Breathe.Think is a mental health charity offering online counselling to those aged 8-21, who cannot afford or access support quickly. No wait times and available nationally, we provide vital support to those who need it right now.
A mental health charity offering online counselling to those aged 8-21, who cannot afford or access support quickly. No wait times and available nationally, we provide vital support to those who need it right now.
Offering a variety of resources to encourage healthy relationships between a child and their parent is suitable when a young person would like to or would benefit from developing a better understanding of safe, happy, and healthy relationships.
We provide mental health support within education settings across Trafford, including primary and secondary schools and colleges.
CAMHS Services
A referral to a CAMHS service might be useful if you are experiencing mental health difficulties that are having a significant impact on your daily life. Based on your age, symptoms and where you live, the following services might be appropriate for you:
The Community Eating Disorder Service (CEDS) is a specialist CAMHS community team (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service), for children and young people aged 5 – 17 who may be presenting with an eating disorder or eating disorder difficulties. We provide specialist evidence-based therapeutic interventions to young people and their families, through a range of treatments, as well as physical health monitoring.