Body image issues can be life-altering. Trouble occurs with both men and women, but with women it’s definitely more common, because of the external pressures that an unenlightened society still has with regard to gender roles. And whereas people will always have some desire to look differently than they do for some reason or another, when it reaches a certain breaking point, some type of action is required.
Some conversations to have with people who may be struggling with body image issues include trouble with addiction, illness or disorder because of nutrition, where self-esteem problems come from, what body dysmorphia means, and what sorts of external pressure there is that could be contributing to the overall issue.
Trouble With Addiction or Addictive Behavior
People who struggle with addiction or addictive behavior may also have more of a tendency to struggle with body image issues. It could be genetic, social, environmental, or cultural, but it has been shown in many studies that those types of psychological problems are often related. And many times, when you find the core reason for one, you’ll also find the core reason for the other.
Illness from Malnutrition
Body image issues will directly relate to having anorexia, bulimia, or one of many other known disorders with regard to eating. Because what you put in your mouth, chew, and swallow, eventually becomes what you look like, trying to radically alter the idea of eating and nutrition as a way to look the way you want sounds like a good idea, but because you can’t necessarily see the inner workings of your guts and human anatomy, it’s really easy to get carried away with the mental aspect while essentially destroying your body.
Self-Esteem Trouble
Self-esteem comes from many different factors, but struggling with how you look from the outside can be a big part of it. People who put a lot of emphasis on how beautiful or ugly they are can get a very skewed version of reality very quickly, and that can lead to bizarre unhappiness or even mental and behavioral issues.
Clinical Body Dysmorphia
The biggest thing about people who have self-esteem issues that have made it to the body dysmorphia stage is that they spend hours and hours per day worrying about what they look like. Tiny flaws look like gigantic gouges in their life. Without treatment, it can become paralyzing. Thankfully there are several different treatments out there, such as the Hypnotherapy Melbourne provides, but it remains very dangerous.
External Pressure
External social pressure from friends and family is often what pushes people into having body image issues. Their parents, friends, or partners mention something that could be better about them, and it can all go downhill quickly from there if a person doesn’t learn quickly not to take things personally. Even small comments from the outside world can have devastating effects on sensitive people.