Anorexia: Media and Body Image

Anorexia: Media and Body Image

While there are likely many causes of anorexia, media and its impact on body image are believed to be a key factor.

Body image is how people perceive their physical appearance. Those who have a poor body image perceive their body as being unattractive or even repulsive to others, while those with a good body image will see themselves as attractive to others, or will at least accept their body in its current form.

A major reason many people have a negative body image is because of the impact that media have had on our perception of body image.

The impact of media and body image is especially prevalent among those who develop anorexia. Media photos and films portray actresses, actors and models as ultra-thin. Young people are especially influenced by those images and perceive them as an ideal.

Anorexia: Media and Body Image Study

One study found that the average height and weight for a model is 5'10" and 110 lbs., while the average height and weight for a woman is 5'4" and 145 lbs. Considering that the average person sees approximately 3,000 ads and commercials daily, it’s no wonder that media has created a distorted ideal body image.

Media and body image typically have an impact beginning at a very young age. As exposure to the body image presented by media has increased, more and more very young people have developed anorexia and other eating disorders.

What To Do About Anorexia, Media and Body Image

You can help minimize the impact of media and have your children develop a healthy body image by:

• Talking to them about the health risks of being thin.
• Explaining how media images are altered and that the body image shown is not real.
• Reading up on eating disorders and understanding the symptoms.
• Limiting your children’s exposure to the body image portrayed by the media.
• Discussing what a healthy, positive body image is.

While media and body image issues are pervasive, with your help, your children should learn to cope with them. If you think you have a body image problem that has led to an eating disorder such as anorexia, contact Walden Behavioral Care today at 781-647-6700.

Our Eating Disorder Treatment Program includes inpatient, residential, and partial hospitalization programs, providing discrete, highly specialized treatment for patients 13 and older with anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder and other eating disorders.