Dissatisfied Bodies: Creating dialogue for women to love and accept their physical selves
Dissatisfied Bodies: Creating dialogue for women to love and accept their physical selves
No Thumbnail Available
Issue Date
2019-05-21
Authors
Jopio, Joyce
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Body dissatisfaction is pervasive amongst women of all ages and is seen as a threat to well-being and also because it is associated with various health-related behaviours, some of which present significant risks. In Western society today, women practice strict diets and undergo cosmetic surgery to try to attain culturally defined, attractive, slender body shapes, Distortions of body image, and dyscontrolled eating, are not simply manifestations of media manipulations or poor willpower, but old narratives that have become so well-worn, they feel like a person's identity. In this paper I will explore interventions and modalities that will improve body satisfaction in women that will help mitigate or prevent clinical psychopathology and eating disorders. Areas to be investigated that are related to counselling modalities and theories are narrative and feminist therapies and acceptance and commitment therapy by considering their therapeutic efficacy within individual counselling or within a women's group counselling group. Towards the end of this paper, I have also included my personal motivation in pursing this area of research. The hope is for women to develop skills to help decrease their likelihood in developing body image and eating problems, to understand their narratives are not destiny, and that these cycles can be broken and ultimately become talks of compassion, self-acceptance, and love.
Description
Keywords
body image , commitment therapy , eating disorders , clinical psychopathology , body dissatisfaction , acceptance , feminist therapies , media manipulations , poor willpower