IT’S TIME TO FEEL COMFORTABLE IN YOUR SKIN
Therapy for Body Image
Do you have a negative view of your body? Maybe this began when you were younger and has continued to persist in your current life. You may be experiencing feelings of shame and disgust when you look in the mirror. All you see are your perceived flaws and this is causing you pain and emotional distress.
It can feel exhausting to be constantly at war with your body. Going to social events creates anxiety as you are preoccupied with what is wrong with your body and how others will see you. You compare yourself to others and feel depressed when you see images on social media of what you think your body should look like. You feel lonely and isolated and like you are missing out on the life you’re really meant for.
You may be wearing bigger clothing in an effort to hide your flaws and you avoid situations where your body will be seen ex: the beach. You spend a good portion of your day blaming your body for your problems thinking “ if I looked better life would be easier”.
Find freedom and self acceptance
It feels difficult to imagine how others can go about their day and not experience intense distress about their bodies. You see people at the beach who appear to look comfortable with themselves and wonder how they do it. And it’s hard to remember a time when you weren’t fixated and dissatisfied with the way you look. You think that maybe if you were able to lose the last couple of pounds and “ tone up” you would feel more comfortable and your body image would improve.
But you also look back on the many attempts you’ve already made in an effort to change your body and realize that those efforts didn’t work. Maybe despite losing the weight you continued to be self critical and feel insecure within. You continued to look for ways to cover up your body and avoid being seen.
Maybe you are realizing that this issue feels much bigger than just an issue with your body.
You can learn to love and accept your body
Therapy can help you overcome these negative thoughts and feelings about your body. It can help you unlearn the harmful messaging that you’ve internalized to develop a new healthier narrative about yourself and your body. Imagine what life could look like if you were not constantly focused on how you feel you look in the mirror. Social events and activities would not be stressful anymore as you would feel confident in your own skin. You know that life is not meant to feel this way and want to start feeling good about yourself.
My approach to helping you through body image therapy is my belief that all bodies are different and all bodies are good. I practice from a Health at Every Size ( HAES) and weight inclusive anti-diet lens where I will never suggest changing your eating or exercise habits for the purpose of losing weight or deliberately changing your body. How boring would life be if we all looked the same? It’s time to start recognizing that your body is not to blame and to understand how diet culture has convinced you of this. Let’s start to reverse this mentality today.
Therapy for Body Image issues can help you:
Identify the negative beliefs you have about your body
Develop a new, healthier and empowering narrative about yourself and your body
Reduce the amount of time spent body checking and thinking about how you look
Improve awareness of the critical messages you’ve received about your body and how they affect your behaviors.
Develop compassion for the stories you’ve told yourself and allow you to decide what you’d like to let go of
Reestablish trust and respect for your here and now body
FAQs
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You may be struggling if you are experiencing negative thoughts and feelings about your physical appearance and are constantly comparing yourself to others. If you are experiencing negative self-talk, obsessive behaviors focused on body weight and have a distorted perception of how your body appears. If you are experiencing distress related to how you think about and perceive your body, it’s worth reaching out for support.
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Body image therapy is geared towards helping people understand, confront and challenge the negative thoughts and feelings they have about their body. Therapy will be focused on improving body acceptance, self esteem and reducing harmful behaviors associated with negative body image.
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Reach out to schedule your free 15 minute consultation today.