Self-esteem is defined as a good or negative attitude towards oneself that helps the individual believe that he is valuable. Feelings of belonging or need, acceptance, and competence are all significant components of self-esteem. A person with low self-esteem exhibits self-rejection, discontent, and contempt, lacks self-respect, and paints a negative self-image.
Body image is a multifaceted notion that encompasses how a person perceives, feels, thinks, and acts in regard to both their own body and their idealised or desired body. It has multiple dimensions, including perception, emotions, ideas, and behaviours, and is influenced by personal attitudes, beliefs, experiences, and cultural norms and standards.
Negative self-talk and low self-esteem caused by poor body image can have a negative impact on one's mental health and overall well-being. A positive body image, on the other hand, can lead to enhanced self-esteem and confidence, ultimately improving one's overall quality of life.
According to socio-cultural viewpoints on body image, gender differences in body dissatisfaction are most likely due to various cultural norms for ideal body types. For females, a slender figure indicates attractiveness, whereas for males, a more muscular build signals power and success. Body dissatisfaction is linked to cognitive and psychological traits like perfectionism, fear of unfavourable judgement, and low self-esteem in both men and women.
Influence of Social Media on Self-esteem and Body Image
Social media platforms have fundamentally altered how young adults interact with others, perceive themselves, and feel about themselves. Users create an idealised online identity by selecting only the best aspects of their lives to promote with a few simple clicks. The prevalence of heavily changed and filtered photographs, physique ideals, and lifestyles on social media has resulted in unrealistic beauty standards, giving rise to the phenomenon known as "social comparison."
Impact of Social Media: Social media has the following negative impacts on how individuals regard their bodies and themselves.
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Social Appearance Anxiety: It refers to concern over one's physical appearance in social situations. Constantly viewing photographs and social media posts that promote idealised beauty standards may heighten self-consciousness and anxiety in real-life social interactions.
Social Physique Anxiety: It is an emotional condition in which people are concerned about how others may perceive their bodies. They may experience a great deal of stress, humiliation, or shame because they believe their physical type, shape, height, and weight are negatively appraised. When their bodies are exposed in gyms and other sporting environments, they may feel irritated, angry, anxious, or embarrassed.
Social Comparisons and Peer Influences: In social contexts, people may compare their physical characteristics to those of others, leading to feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt, and self-consciousness. The widespread use of social media platforms exacerbates this tendency, as people routinely contrast their actual appearance with well-edited and filtered photos of others.
Perfectionism and Self-critical Thinking: These people have overly high standards for their physical appearance and are harsh on themselves when they believe they fall short of them. A person's anxiety in social situations may be exacerbated by the fear of making mistakes or being judged negatively based on their appearance.
The Internalisation of Appearance: It refers to the process by which people incorporate cultural beauty objectives and standards into their personal belief systems and self-evaluation. These messages lead people to adopt and internalise the idea that their worth is directly proportional to how they look. Internalisation may cause a rise in appearance-related concerns, self-criticism, and social anxiety.
Bullying and Teasing experiences: People who have experienced body shaming, mocking, or harsh comments about their appearance in the past may become fearful of being evaluated and rejected in the future.
Body Unhappiness and a Negative Body Image: Anxiety about social appearance is linked to body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem. They may constantly inspect their bodies for approval from others, resulting in obsessive body-checking behaviours, leading to body dissatisfaction and a firm belief that they fall short of conventional beauty standards.
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Low Self-Esteem and Self-Worth: Persistent anxiety and the fear of obtaining negative feedback based on appearance can undermine one's self-confidence. People who suffer from social anxiety may have a distorted perception of themselves, believing that their worth as individuals is determined by how they appear to others. This low impression of oneself can reduce one's overall sense of worth and foster feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt.
Social Avoidance and Isolation: People who suffer from social appearance anxiety may feel extremely uncomfortable and worried in social situations, particularly if they are likely to be scrutinised or assessed for their appearance. Individuals may actively avoid social situations and events, which can lead to social isolation and impede the development of strong bonds.
Dealing with the Pandemic using Online Interventions
Online counselling offers a discreet and judgement-free environment for people to explore and enhance their body image and self-esteem. With qualified therapists, personalised sessions, and a holistic approach, online therapy assists clients in developing a healthy relationship with their bodies and increasing their self-esteem.
Working on complex cognitive process: In India and around the globe, most people are attracted towards the glamour shown in the entertainment business - falling for and getting influenced by a certain body type and skin tone. This leads to constant checking on their colour and body weight, trying out various ways to be the right fit with the norm, which isn’t a norm at all. This leads to the formation of worse anticipations, which can engender maladaptive behaviours, resulting in a vicious cycle in which these behaviours reinforce the negative self-beliefs and induce additional maladaptive behaviours. By working on alterations of the beliefs and thoughts and assisting them in altering the perceptual and interpretative bias, enables a person to become more self-accepting, rewrite negative self-views, and form more positive beliefs about themselves.
Support groups: They are yet another widely employed strategy for enhancing mental health. They entail a sequence of get-togethers where individuals can talk to one another about their issues. Psychotherapy supervision may or may not be present during sessions, and self-disclosure-promoting discussions might be guided or unguided. The self-esteem of an individual might be positively impacted by the support groups. While receiving peer support has a good influence on self-efficacy, providing assistance to peers has a positive impact on self-esteem.
Using Art: Artistic endeavours have a profound impact on self-esteem. It helps people connect with, express, and transform their inner thoughts and feelings by using the creative process (painting, sculpture, theatre, music, dance, etc.).
Compassion based interventions: These include gratitude interventions, which support people in engaging in activities that foster a sense of thankfulness, and self-and other-awareness and prevention of suffering. It boosts relationship worth and perceived social acceptability, which boosts self-esteem.
Conclusion
Modern society presents a very warped idea of beauty to both men and women around the world. Because of these constructions, people are torn between their actual and perceived body images, which are harmful. Illogical expectations from family, media, friends, and society lead individuals to assume that they must overcome all obstacles in order to appear as these forces anticipate, rather than as they truly are.
Improving body image and self-esteem is critical for general mental health and well-being. Online counselling is a practical and successful answer since it provides a safe, supportive, and confidential place for people to discuss their difficulties. Rocket Health India's dedication to competent, inclusive, and holistic care makes it an excellent choice for anyone looking to enhance their body image and self-esteem.
Contact Rocket Health India to set up an online counselling session and begin your journey to improved mental health and well-being.
References
Noémie, N. & New, B. & Beaudoin, M. (2021). Self-esteem Interventions in Adults – A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality. 94. 104131. 10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104131. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656621000684
Sharma, N. (2021). The effect of social media on body image, self esteem and social appearance anxiety among young adults. IJRAR, 11(1). Retrieved from https://ijrar.org/papers/IJRARTH00155.pdf
Tiwari, G. (2014). Body Image Satisfaction Enhances Self-Esteem. Vaichariki. IV. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271708907_Body_Image_Satisfaction_Enhances_Self-Esteem
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