Body Image and Abnormality Psychology
Introduction and Background
Psychology involves a wide range of studies that are concerned with mental health and operation. Abnormalities, on the other hand, represents an instance where things are not working as they should. Therefore, abnormal psychology may be viewed as a branch of psychology that deals with abnormal behaviors in a clinical context. A curve is drawn with the shape of a bell representing normality with most people being clustered on the high point of the curve. Individuals who lie far away from the median of the standard curve are said to be abnormal. Body image has a significant impact on psychology. The definition of body image varies depending on the context of interpretation. However, the basic description of body image is divided into two perspectives; perceptual and physical. The perceptual body image is concerned with what the owner of a body feels while the physical defines the real picture of the body. The subjective experience associated with body image is related to an individual’s perception of the appearance of their body and how the external environment will respond to the physical appearance of the body.
Self-esteem has a significant impact on the mentality of an individual towards their bodies. Individuals are always in a primary position to determine the level of self-respect to accord to themselves. Although external pressure may impact the self-esteem of an individual, the final decision is left to the individual (Grogan, 2016). Besides, self-esteem is defined as the degree that an individual accord to self and maybe low or high. Generally, self-esteem starts growing from childhood, although the development varies among individuals depending on the circumstances at hand. The climax for self-esteem growth happens during adolescence. The adolescence stage has the most substantial impact on an individual’s self-esteem since identity is sought at that age. Low self-esteem may play a significant role in leading an individual into psychological abnormalities.
Psychological abnormalities occur where an individual has low psychological capability compared to people in the same category. For example, adults are expected to be responsible for personal activities such as personal cleanliness. However, individuals with psychological abnormalities may face challenges adhering to some of the standard personal duties (Li et al. 2015). Moreover, the definition of abnormality appears straightforward until psychology is introduced, and one has to adjust the clarity. The psychological well-being of an individual is affected by the degree of comfort of an individual in their current status. Body image happens to be one of the factors affecting the psychological well-being of individuals. Individuals may have health or abnormal psychology, depending on the level of self-esteem coming from personal acceptance.
Body Image and Psychological Well-being
Body image can determine the satisfaction of an individual. Most of the times, individuals want to have the best images for their bodies. Also, individuals want to have an image that is better than other people. However, body image does not appear perfect for every individual. Some people have body images that do not give them the satisfaction they need (Colman, 2015). The result of being unsatisfied with one’s body image is to have low self-esteem and high self-hatred. Moreover, individuals who are dissatisfied with their body images always get stressed trying to worry about the perceptions in the eyes of other people. Generally, unsatisfying body image may lead to poor psychological health.
Additionally, individuals with unsatisfying body image do not enjoy life as they should because most of the time is spent feeling ashamed of their bodies. Also, the current state of technology has created gaps where people with ill intentions use social media platforms to body-shame people, thus lowering their self-esteem. Generally, body image continues to have negative impacts on the psychological health of patients and affects self-esteem. The problems associated with psychology and body image require the intervention of psychopathologists since some outcomes may be severe.
Cases have been reported of individuals taking destructive measures to overcome psychological problems associated with body image. The attempts of individuals to fight the negativity behind body image are faced with regular challenges (Duchesne et al. 2017). For example, body-shaming could be related to the psychological problems affecting individuals. As expected, individuals with body image challenges have low self-esteem. When pressure such as body-shaming is applied to people with low self-esteem, the chances are that the individuals break down quickly. Some people have gone to the extent of committing suicide due to lack of satisfaction. Also, the lack of a welcoming world has made people with body image issues to lose the battle on holding on to hope.
Psychological abnormalities have become additional problems for people with medical challenges. The psychological abnormalities come from cases such as unsatisfactory body image. For example, individuals with obesity may have psychological problems on top of the existing medical challenges. Obesity comes with an extreme bodyweight that interferes with the shape of the patient’s body. The fact that individuals with obesity always face challenges with their medication adds further burden when psychological abnormalities set in. Besides, adhering to medication requires a good psychological status to avoid forgetfulness or resistance. Moreover, psychological abnormalities may not be easily diagnosed among adult people.
Abnormality psychology faces challenges in dealing with problems occurring to adults. Issues such as mental disorders are easily diagnosed in children by parents while tracking the development of the children. However, adults are always independent and make decisions, which are not subject to questioning by anyone (Fardouly et al. 2015). Therefore, the chances of noticing mental disorders at early stages are low. Actually, most mental disorders among adults are noticed at advanced stages when no medical intervention can work. Also, mental disorders associated with body image may not be noticed because people always think that some behaviors are healthy for people with body image challenges. Ignorance grows quickly, where people with body image challenges are being addressed. The impact of body image on psychological abnormality can, however, be diagnosed using the existing diagnostic approaches.
Abnormality psychology leaves a chance for diagnosing mental problems. Patients having challenges due to body image should, therefore, be flexible to undergo through the various diagnostic approaches (Tatangelo, & Ricciardelli, 2017). One of the diagnostic procedures that can be used is the diagnosis and statistics manual for mental disorders (DSM-5). DSM-5 is used by professionals to identify patient categories that are used to aid in planning treatment. Besides, patients who have obtained mental problems related to body image require the services of qualified professionals because the diagnosis for them may not be straight forward. Also, the list of disorders identified using DSM-5 changes with time because new researches keep emerging. Generally, body image is responsible for most mental problems, and patients rely on professionals for assistance.
Body image satisfaction has a positive impact on psychological well-being. Individuals who are satisfied with their body image are always happy and at least have a lower stress burden than those with unsatisfying body image. Satisfactory body image strengthens the self-esteem of an individual, and hence, interaction with people is heightened. Besides, functional personal interactions prepare a stage for sharing own experiences that may assist individuals in fighting depression. Therefore, individuals with high self-esteem tend to have less or no depression and are generally in healthy psychological well-being. Also, satisfaction with body image may motivate individuals to have a positive impact on people with problems getting satisfied with their body images. Moreover, satisfaction with body image does not happen only to people with perfect bodies.
Satisfaction with the body always happens a personal decision that may not have to be influenced by external factors. Although individuals with perfect body images are satisfied with their body images, some people accept the uniqueness of their bodies and earn satisfaction from the originality (Kilpela, Becker, Wesley & Stewart, 2015). Similarly, some with perfect bodies become unsatisfied and decide to change their bodies to fit specific categories. For example, cases of plastic surgery happen because individuals may be dissatisfied with their bodies, though perfect, and decide to make their bodies better. Therefore, satisfaction with body image is relative and depends on an individual’s perception of what they define as a perfect body image. Ideally, getting satisfied with one’s body image has an impact on mental health regardless of whether the satisfaction is caused by imperfections, or need for a unique body image. Individuals with defect will, of course, suffer less mental distress if they accept that the body images, they have is the best. On the other side, individuals planning to change their already perfect bodies for uniqueness will suffer depression if their new appearance does not receive the expected attention. Generally, the impact of body impact on psychological wellness may be positive or negative, depending on the perception held by the individual.
Body image could be positive or negative depending on the perspective of both the individual and the people around them. Although the individual’s perspective stands as the final definition of body image, people surrounding the individual have an impact on self-esteem. Some factors, such as body mass index lead to the different forms of body image. For example, individuals with high body weights tend to take unpleasant shapes hence negative body image. People with uncomfortable body shapes are always judged by society for either being lazy or for overeating. The judgment surrounding people with negative body images worsens the situation since the self-esteem in the victims lowers. Also, psychological wellness is impacted negatively (Ricciardelli & Yager, 2015). Most of the victims of negative body image end up engaging in reckless behaviors while attempting to overcome the depression caused by negative body image. Some of the irresponsible behavior may be dangerous to mental health hence affecting the psychological wellness of the victims. For example, drug use may lead to poor psychological health. Most of the subscales of psychological well-being are subject to be affected by body image.
Psychological well-being is measured in different subscales. The subscales may be affected by body image and eventually affect the mental health of an individual. Generally, the psychological system of an individual consists of the head and face, upper extremities, lower extremities, and attitude towards the overall features of the body (Duarte, Ferreira, Trindade & Pinto-Gouveia, 2015). Autonomy and purpose in life are also subscales of psychological well-being. However, the impact of body image on the subscales differs significantly between individuals. Autonomy and purpose in life tend to be less affected by body image. Subscales such as mastering the environment and personal growth are significantly affected by body image. For example, a person with unwanted weight may find difficulties adapting to a new environment. Also, individuals with negative body image may not have sufficient time to concentrate on personal growth. The impact of body image on psychological well-being may be changed by several factors.
Self-acceptance and positive relationships with people play crucial roles in impacting the impact of body image on psychological well-being. Individuals who have accepted their body image have a relatively happy life. Worrying about the outcomes of having a negative body image does not change the status of the body image but only works against the psychological health of the individual. Therefore, accepting the state of body image helps an individual to concentrate on essential issues in life. On the other side, having positive relationships with people significantly affects the psychological well-being of an individual. How an individual relates to other people impacts the treatment they will receive concerning body image. People always have a significant impact on the self-esteem of an individual, and therefore creating positive relationships helps to strengthen one’s self-esteem. Eventually, high self-esteem helps in improving the psychological well-being of the individual. The pressure to change the body image of an individual has an impact on the psychological well-being.
Abnormal Psychology deals with issues surrounding the mental health of the patient. Some of the factors that affect the mental health of an individual include pressure to fit into the categories of the surrounding society. For example, individuals may be under significant pressure to change their body image to avoid discrimination. The stress affects the way individuals concentrate on personal growth and may end up causing mental problems. Also, the people around an individual with unsatisfying body image may be a source of pressure towards changing body image. For example, a wife could be subjected by their husbands to engage in weight-cutting activities to get an impressive body image. The pressure may become too much, and the wife may be tempted to take the attempts by her husband as an insult. Also, the wife may become distressed for being unlucky to have such an unsatisfying body image. Generally, the impact of body image on psychological well-being might be significantly affected by the people around an individual. Psychological difficulties caused by body image are the main interest of psychological professionals.
The relationship between body image and psychological well-being captures the attention of psychological professionals. For example, self-acceptability and positive relationships are encouraged by psychologists to help in dealing with psychological difficulties. Individuals who have a high degree of self-acceptance do not face challenges trying to fight psychological challenges. Individuals with self-acceptance become role models and help other individuals in dealing with their problems. Besides, individuals get motivated to accept their status after witnessing individuals with similar challenges overcoming their conditions. Positive relationships also help in getting the goodness out of people. Individuals who create an approachable environment benefit from people with good intentions. Therefore, the challenges caused by body image can be dealt with by accepting the situation without looking for someone to blame. Knowledge of the relationship between body image and psychological wellness is crucial in ensuring that patients get the necessary treatment.
Health professions deal with changing medical cases every day. Besides, lifestyles and priorities affect the rate at which medical conditions emerge and transform. Priorities among people have changed, and more people are under pressure to have the perfect body images. Unfortunately, the number of psychological abnormality cases has increased due to the lack of balance between demands and consequences. Health professionals, therefore, need to have sufficient knowledge to deal with the rising number of psychological abnormalities from body image. The knowledge should include creating awareness concerning the importance of prioritizing happiness and health before public acceptance. The immediate action after understanding that body image could be responsible for psychological abnormalities, and attempts should be made to assist individuals who could have become victims.
Psychological Approaches
Different approaches can be used for dealing with psychological abnormalities stemming from body image. Most cases of body image dissatisfaction are clouded by self-denial, and individuals may resist attempts to check their mental health. However, professionals always find ways of dealing with such cases (Duarte, Ferreira, Trindade & Pinto-Gouveia, 2015). Professionals may apply the psychoanalytic approach to bring out the mental status of the patient. The psychoanalytic approach is based on the assumption that mental problems develop from unconscious memories, desires, and thoughts. Patients may be taken through a series of analyses to identify the status of their psychological stability. Also, dreams of the victims may be analyzed by the professionals and advice provided where problems are observed. The most common form of therapy is advice to the victim on the perfect ways of handling thoughts and memories to avoid maladaptive behaviors and depression. The behavior portrayed by an individual can be used to assess whether a psychological abnormality has developed.
Behavioral changes are crucial in determining the psychological well-being of an individual. Most of the times, body image dissatisfaction may change the character of an individual. For example, an individual may go through an experience such as body-shaming and end up becoming shy or bitter (Kleemans, Daalmans, Carbaat & Anschütz, 2018). However, some behavioral changes are seen as extreme and should be analyzed by professional. For example, cases of depression and loss of interest in a human relationship could signal a need for a mental check-up. Also, professionals can liaise with close relatives to the patient to identify whether the behavioral changes were abrupt or happened gradually. The successful administration of therapy on psychological abnormality should be marked by the individual’s return to usual behavior patterns. Generally, victims of negative body image should be helped to develop positive behaviors instead of encouraging negative adaptive behaviors. Negative body image may or may not be hereditary, so are the psychological abnormalities associated with body image.
The primary cause of negative body image may or may not be hereditary. Cases of hereditary negative body image may be simple to deal with because older members of the family will probably help assist the young members in dealing with negative body image (Andrew, Tiggemann & Clark, 2016). However, some cases of negative body image are medical and require the intervention of professionals to address. For example, obesity may affect a member of a family due to their changed lifestyle and dealing with such a condition may be complex. Negative body image from clinical conditions causes more psychological abnormalities. The medical approach of psychological intervention is a reliable solution to cases of psychological abnormalities. The victims are helped to connect and accept the causes of such situations. Also, the victims may be trained on proper ways of adapting to the environment without feeling discriminated. The other approach that can aid in fighting psychological abnormalities from body image is the cognitive approach.
The relationship between body image and psychological abnormalities is completed by the thoughts and perceptions held by the individual. An individual who believes that having a negative body image is a weakness may easily suffer from psychological distress. Also, individuals who believe that someone else should be blamed for their negative body image may spend their life feeling bitter. Such thoughts and perceptions combine to give the victim an emotional overload that might turn out harmful to their psychological health. Also, the reasoning ability of an individual may be affected by the negative perception of body image. Therefore, the treatment option available for victims of psychological abnormalities is aimed at changing the perception of the victim towards life (Ahadzadeh, Sharif & Ong, 2017). Also, the reasoning capacity of the patient should be improved through advice. The patients should be helped to accept the fact that negative body image is not a weakness as they could have been made to believe. The cognitive approach could be combined with the cognitive approach to form a therapy that will assist the patients in dealing with their psychological conditions. Generally, the negativity or positivity of body image depends on the thoughts and perceptions of the patient.
The decision on whether body image has contributed to psychological abnormalities is made after assessing a series of behavioral patterns. First, the thoughts of the individual may be analyzed by holding a discussion with them. Also, the observable behavioral patterns could be considered with the concern being prioritized on the changes that have happened in the recent past. Also, the view of the individual concerning life could be used to check whether negative body image has impacted the individual’s relationship with people.
In sum, the psychological experience associated with body image is associated with an individual’s perception of the appearance of their body and how the external environment will respond to the physical appearance of the body. Self-acceptance and positive relationships with people play crucial roles in impacting the impact of body image on psychological well-being. Also, negative body image may or may not be hereditary, so are the psychological abnormalities associated with body image. The knowledge should include creating awareness concerning the importance of prioritizing happiness and health before public acceptance. The immediate action after understanding that body image could be responsible for psychological abnormalities, and attempts should be made to assist individuals who could have become victims.
References
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