Body Image Resource Center
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Body Image

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Body image is the thoughts, beliefs, and feelings you have about your body. It includes what you believe about your appearance and how you physically feel in your body. You might experience positive body image, which includes general respect for your body, or negative body image, leading to feelings of shame or anxiety. Improving negative body image may involve therapy, fostering self-compassion, exercising for well-being rather than appearance, and challenging what you see on social media.

FAQ

What factors influence body image?

What you see in the media, social pressures from parents and peers, personal experiences, and cultural values shape how you think about your body. Children as young as age 3 develop a body image.

Negative body image can lead to shame and self-consciousness. It makes you more likely to experience depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem.

Evidence-based approaches include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). Practicing unconditional acceptance, self-compassion, media literacy to challenge diet culture, and gratitude for what your body can do rather than its appearance. These approaches can be supported by a mental health provider.

No. Body image is a personal perception, while body positivity is a social movement. Body image can be neutral, while body positivity pushes for acceptance and self-love of all bodies. But this term is often used by people that support the thin ideal.

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Kelsey M. Latimer, PhD, RN

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Adam Lake, MD

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Lynn Grieger, RDN, CDCES

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Lynn Grieger is a registered dietitian-nutritionist, certified diabetes care and education specialist, certified personal trainer, and certified health and wellness coach. She comp...

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Thomas Rutledge, PhD

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Dr. Thomas Rutledge is a staff psychologist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. He provides clinical services to help patients manage chronic health conditions such as chronic p...

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Chelsea Vinas, MS, LMFT

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Chelsea Vinas is a licensed psychotherapist who has a decade of experience working with individuals, families, and couples living with anxiety, depression, trauma, and those experi...

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Allison Young, MD

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Allison Young, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist providing services via telehealth throughout New York and Florida.

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Angela D. Harper, MD

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Angela D. Harper, MD, is in private practice at Columbia Psychiatric Associates in South Carolina, where she provides evaluations, medication management, and psychotherapy for adul...

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Seth Gillihan, PhD

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Seth Gillihan, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, who helps people find personal growth by making important changes in their thoughts and...
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Kayli Anderson, RDN

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Resources
  1. Body Image. National Eating Disorders Association.

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