Body Image Dissatisfaction and Muscle Dysmorphia Treatment

Significant dissatisfaction with physical appearance is a central characteristic of eating disorders, and is presumed to drive the use of the more extreme methods of weight control. It is useful to keep in mind that body image is a multidimensional experience which encompasses thoughts, emotions, actions, and evaluative beliefs regarding one’s body. More importantly, appreciation for one’s body is essential to how one feels about his or herself in general. If you are happy with your appearance then you are likely to be satisfied with yourself as person. Conversely, if you have a low opinion of yourself you are likely to find flaws with your body, which you may work extremely hard to correct, in the belief it is a readily modified characteristic.

Body Dissatisfaction in Women

Starting very early in life, frequently around the onset of puberty, many females become dissatisfied with their bodies, seeing themselves as too large or likely to become too large if they are not careful to eat modestly and exercise frequently. The standard for judging how acceptable one’s body is if it conforms to the culturally defined ideal of attractiveness, which in contemporary terms means: “are you thin enough?” Thus it is not surprising that girls as young as third grade are worried about becoming fat and experiment with dieting. Aggressive weight loss methods might be resorted to such as fasting, purging, excessive exercise, or abuse of laxatives or diet pills. Attention to addressing body image concerns are part of any comprehensive treatment program, although body dissatisfaction is one of the last aspects of an eating disorder to change. It is also worth noting that body dissatisfaction is not something that gets “outgrown”. One of the strongest fears that women have about aging, next to memory loss, is weight gain.

Body Dissatisfaction and Muscle Dysmorphia in Men

Recent research shows body dissatisfaction and muscle dysmorphia in males is a multifaceted experience that incorporates all aspects of having a body, not just size. Body dissatisfaction is not only about thinness. For roughly half of men with an eating disorder, body dissatisfaction may focus on thinness, but may also be driven by obesity-related health concerns, enhancing athletic performance or muscle gain.

For many men, body dissatisfaction occurs because they are not muscular enough, i.e. not big enough. The term for this is muscle dysmorphia. In this case, a person feels the need to increase body size by adding muscle via focused physical exercise, nutritional changes and perhaps using muscle enhancing medications like steroids. These practices can be as threatening to health as starvation, low body mass, and purging. It may not be seen as a problem since muscularity is a highly valued attribute in men, by both men and women, and common methods of high protein diets and increased physical exercise are perceived as healthy in our culture. Thus, it may not look like a ‘serious’ disorder when muscle increases and the individual does not seem to overvalue thinness.

Treatment of Body Image Concerns at Webster Wellness Professionals

Common treatment goals around body image concerns are:

• to cultivate a healthier appreciation of one’s body
• to discontinue harmful body changing practices
• to challenge erroneous beliefs that damage self-esteem and may interfere with life satisfaction.

A number of cognitive-behavior therapy protocols and expressive therapy techniques have been designed to achieve these treatment outcomes. Several have been evaluated, although the body of literature is not as extensive as it is with eating disorders treatments. Body image concerns are often part of an eating disorder or some variation. Since the eating disorder is considered a more immediate health threat, treating body image concerns should be part of a comprehensive treatment. If all that remains of the eating disorder is body dissatisfaction, focused treatment on it would be appropriate. Given that the manifestation of body concerns may take different forms in men and women, an evaluation by someone well versed in treating eating and weight disturbances and who is aware of the gender differences in psychological presentation is strongly recommended. Webster Wellness’ professionals are thoroughly familiar with characteristics of body dissatisfaction in men and women and are up to date with the most empirically-grounded procedures for treating body dissatisfaction.