Definitions for Personal Trainers - What are body dissatisfaction, body shame and body surveillance?
by Kathleen Lisson
Self compassion is a good intervention to reduce the severity of body image concerns
in women with body image issues. As Personal Trainers or other healthcare professionals helping clients with a lipedema diagnosis, body image issues are an inevitable result of living with lipedema adipose tissue in today's image-obsessed Western society. We must be empathetic and have an understanding of what our clients are experiencing. Simply put, what are we dealing with here?
Kristin Neff is a meditation expert and researcher in self-compassion. Neff defines self-compassion as three intertwined elements - "mindfulness, self-kindness, and common humanity"
- Mindfulness is important so the meditator can notice her suffering in a balanced way
- Self-kindness involves "care and understanding" versus "harsh judgment or criticism"
- Common humanity allows the meditator to understand that "imperfections are part of being human and that flaws and inadequacies make one more (rather than less) connected to others."
Body image concerns include body dissatisfaction, body shame and body surveillance.
- Body dissatisfaction happens when we evaluate ourselves in a negative light.
- Body shame is when we judge ourselves as a person negatively because our body does not conform to society's standards.
- Body surveillance is when we are endlessly concerned with how our bodies appear to others.
These definitions came from the study 'Brief self-compassion meditation training for body image distress in young adult women' by Aubrey M. Toole, Linda W. Craighead
In this video, Dr. Karen Dill-Shackleford, Media & Social Psychologist from the Fielding Graduate Institute shares information on what body image interventions DON'T work:
In this video, a lady with lipedema speaks about how she feels versus what she sees in the mirror:
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