Counseling Services (Body Image)

Introduction to Body Image

1. Body Image can be defined as how we perceive our physical appearance, as well as how we think others perceive us. It may also be defined as a mental picture of the size, shape, and form of our body.

2. In short, body image is your own subjective idea of how you look, summed up in your reaction to what you see in the mirror.

3. How we perceive and relate to our own physical appearance or body image is influenced by cultural and social factors.

4. Body image is constantly changing.

5. Negative body image can and has become a serious difficulty for countless women, men, and even children.

6. In small doses, dissatisfaction with your body can cause low self-esteem and low spirits.

7. In large doses, it can contribute to clinical depression and eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.

8. Some people also suffer from Body Dysmorphic Disorder, a serious psychological disorder that arises from a person's sadly distorted image of his or her own body.

Problems associated with body image

1.The way a person views his or her body directly affects self-esteem. Self-esteem is defined as an individual's perceived feelings of value and self-worth.

2. A person with high self-esteem is more self-accepting, possesses high self-worth, and has a positive self-image.

3. On the other hand, a person with low self-esteem is often self-critical, has low self-worth, and has a negative self-image.

4. Because body image is important to our self-concept, when distortions occur, they can have pronounced effects.

5. Body image distortion occurs when we perceive ourselves being heavier than we actually are. Body image distortion occurs more frequently for women than for men.

6. Eating disorders, like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, are serious illnesses and clinical disorders that affect over five million American women and men.

7. Thousands of people will die from the physical problems caused by these conditions.

8. It is well known that most sufferers never seek treatment.

9. In one study of 300 adolescent girls, over 90 percent were dissatisfied with their weight even when it was normal.

10. Another study showed that 15 percent of women would give up five years of their lives in order to permanently lose five pounds.

Signs of Body Image Distortion

1. Being overly concerned with your appearance.

2. Insisting you're fat or unattractive when you're not.

3. Noticeable mood changes in association to your appearance.

4. Seeing bodies in extreme: fat/thin, beautiful/unattractive, versus healthy, normal, or average.

5. Avoiding public or family gatherings because you don't feel you look good enough, or you don't have anything to wear that you look good in.

6. Not participating in activities that require you to wear shorts, short sleeve shirts, or bathing suits.

7. Feeling sexually inhibited because you aren't comfortable with your body.

Overcoming body image problems - Seven positive remedies

God is the only true mirror of beauty.

We need to renew our perceptions regarding God's perspective of beauty. Do not be deceived by the ideal images in the media. We were wonderfully and uniquely made. Be alert to the reality of these unrealistic images of beauty and transform your mind with God's truth, love, and acceptance.

Be beautiful from the inside out.

Develop a well-rounded, balanced sense of self-worth and self-esteem that is not based primarily on physical appearance. Develop and enjoy hobbies and talents. Connect with others in meaningful and affirming relationships. Nurture an intimate relationship with God through prayer and reading the Bible. These activities will foster self-acceptance and elevate self-esteem.

Look for love in all the right places.

Some women (and men) only know how to get attention and their intimacy and love needs met through their physical appearance and sexuality. God can work healing and wholeness, deepening intimacy with Him as well as with other safe, nurturing, and accepting people.

Learn to accept what you see in the mirror.

Do as much as you can to stay healthy and fit. Be willing to make necessary, realistic changes to improve feelings of attractiveness. The rest is learning to accept the way God has uniquely created you. Make the most of your God-given genetics and learn to be thankful stewards of his creation in you.

Love the beauty and the beast.

There is some desirable beauty and unwanted beast in all of us. We all have strengths and weaknesses, good predominant features and other parts of our bodies we would like remade. Accentuate your positive features - the parts of your body that you find most attractive - and then find the best ways to deemphasize what you feel are not your strongest features.

Celebrate and explore being feminine.

Explore ways to feel pampered and pretty, such as rituals like manicures, pedicures, long hot baths, or a makeover. Wear clothes and pajamas that you feel good in.

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

Reject the current media culture's contamination of reality and self-acceptance. Don't judge others unrealistically by their outward appearance. See the beauty in yourself and the ordinary people around you. God does!

Counsel from God's Word

First, realize that you're in good company.
(Exodus 3:11, Jeremiah 1:6).

Many Bible characters had feelings of inferiority. When God came to Moses, his response was "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out Eygpt?" Moses self-esteem was so low, he feared any possibility of rejection or failure.

Jeremiah had a similar inferiority problem. When the call of God came to him, telling him he had been set apart to be a prophet, he responded: "Ah, Soverign Lord…I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." The Lord finally had to tell Jeremiah not to worry about what to say, because he would put the words in his mouth. So often, our inferiority feelings, like Jeremiah, are baseless.

Understand our sense of well-being isn't derived from what we have, but who we are in Christ.
(1 Cor. 1:26-29).

It's not our family name, physical appearance, prestige, fame, income, or clout in life that give us a genuine sense of well-being. That only comes from knowing who we are in Christ.

Remember, God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways.
(Acts 4:13).

Look at how God used ordinary people to do great things! Abraham was an ordinary person, and so were Deborah, Ruth, David, Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John. In more modern times, look how God has used ordinary people like Corrie ten Boom, John and Charles Wesley, D.L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon, Fanny Crosby, Billy Graham, and others. It's God's power, not man's credentials, that makes all the difference.

Our goal is to please God, not man.
(Galatians 1:10).

Most of our feelings of inferiority come from trying to measure up to other's people's expectations and often falling short. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that our goal is to please the Lord.

Recognize that whatever we accomplish, we do so by God's strength.
(1 Samuel 17:45, Acts 4:9-10)

When Israel's army couldn't defeat the giant Goliath with their sophisticated weaponry, the boy David dared to challenge him. When Peter and John were questioned concerning the healing of the man at the gate of the Temple, they made it clear that it wasn't their power at work. God wants us to completely rely on Him for all things. Once we know that, we need never feel inferior again.

Let God live His life through you.
(Galatians 2:20, Col. 1:27)
God doesn't use the best, just our best. That's all He asks. If you're in Christ, you're complete. You have it all! You have absolutely no reason to feel inferior, because "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness."
(2 Peter 1:3a).

REFERENCES

Bierma, P. (2000). Body image. Building better health, 33.
Moorehead, B. (1994). Counsel yourself and others from the Bible: The first place to turn for life's tough issues. Multnomah Books: Sisters, OR.
Slaughter, M.D., & Sun, A.M. (1999). In pursuit of perfection: A primary care physician's guide to body dysmorphic disorder. American family physician, October 1999.
Sloan, B. (2000). Body image. Ohio state university factsheet [On-Line serial HYG 5238-00], Available online CLICK HERE.
Weber, C.H. (2001). Mirror, mirror on the wall …The fairest are ruining it for us all. Christian Counseling Today, 9(4).

The CSU counseling services office:

Dr. Jill Ilagan
Glenda Nanna
Russell West
2nd Floor (ROTC hallway)
phone: (843) 863-8010
e-mail