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Building Up Body Image in ED Recovery
Adrienne Ressler of The Renfrew Center Discusses Building Up Body Image
Hosted by Adrienne Ressler LMSW, CEDS of The Renfrew Center
June 18, 2015
EDH: Welcome to today’s #EDHchat! We are excited to have you all with us! We would like to start by welcoming our special guest, Adrienne Ressler, who will be tweeting as @RenfrewCenter. Special thanks to @RenfrewCenter for discussing Building Up Body Image in ED Recovery and for helping us make this twitter chat possible!
Adrienne is the Vice President of Professional Development for the Renfrew Center Foundation and here to share her expertise with us. Thank you for joining us today Adrienne! Please tell us a little about yourself and your background.
Adrienne: I have served as senior staff for 25 years. I attended the University of Michigan where I served as faculty in the School of Education. A body image specialist, I am a member of the Academy of Eating Disorders and serve as co-chairperson of the Somatic and Somatically Oriented Therapies SIG. I am also a fellow and past president of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (iaedp).
My trainings reflect my background in body-focused methods to treat eating disorders, body image, trauma, and substance abuse. I am also published in The International Journal of Fertility and Women’s Medicine, Social Work Today and Pulse, the journal of the International Spa Association. My work has also been included in the first Encyclopedia of Body Image and Human Appearance.
EDH: Can you explain what body image is?
Adrienne: Body image is an extremely complex concept. It goes beyond feeling “I love or loathe my body”” and begins to form at an early age. Body image is influenced by many factors including parents, caregivers, peers, and life experiences.
It involves 3 facets…The picture in our mind’s eye, how we believe others perceive us, and how we feel living in our body.
EDH: How is body image impacted by eating disorders?
Adrienne: Actually the eating disorder is affected by body image issues. A negative body image with its punishing self-talk is a core component of an ED. It is resistant to change as it often becomes the person’s identity.
EDH: What are signs of body image disturbance?
Adrienne: Disturbances of perception, delusional-like distortions of size and weight, inability to recognize body signals and sensations. Also identity issues that involve differentiating “who I am” from “how I look.”
The development of self-esteem, a strong personal identity, the capacity for pleasure, and the ability to connect emotionally to one’s self and to others are all linked to building up body image.
A person may be suffering from body image disturbance if she:
- Is unable to accept a compliment;
- Is overly affected in her moods by how she thinks she looks;
- Constantly compares herself to others;
- Calls herself disparaging names—“Fat.” “Gross.” “Ugly.” “Flabby”;
- Attempts to create a “perfect” image;
- Seeks constant reassurance from others that her looks are acceptable;
- Consistently overstates the size of her body or body parts;
- Believes that if she could attain her goal weight or size, she would be able to accept herself;
- Subordinates her enjoyment of life’s pleasures or pursuit of personal goals to her drive for thinness;
- Equates thinness with beauty, success, perfection, happiness, confidence, and self-control;
- Compartmentalizes her body into parts (thighs, stomach, buttocks, hips, etc.) rather than feeling connected to her whole body;
- Has an ever-present fear of being fat—even if she is slim;
- Has an overriding sense of shame about herself and her body.
EDH: How can someone begin to build up body image in their recovery from an eating disorder?
Adrienne:
- increase awareness of negative self-talk
- stop negative self-talk
- start activities that increase body-awareness: yoga, meditation, tai chi, karate
- dentify and reinforce a word that captures how you would like to feel living in your body
EDH: What encouragement would you offer to someone struggling with poor body image?
Adrienne: You deserve to feel good about your body. You will experience a sense of “wholeness” when you reclaim your body. Your body holds emotions and experiences that need to be expressed in order for you to heal and fully recover. You can be the you that you were meant to be before your eating disorder took over.
EDH: Thank you Adrienne for sharing this great insight about body image! If you or a loved one has been suffering, we hope this information brings you hope. For more information about Adrienne and The Renfrew Center, visit their website at http://renfrewcenter.com.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Twitter chat today! And thank you for the great insight @RenfrewCenter
If you are in need of resources for an eating disorder, visit our website at Eating Disorder Hope.
