In the second book, "What's Wrong with the Diet? What is the role of the psyche?" the key role of the psyche in people's eating behavior was revealed. Harmony in the psyche becomes the engine for future changes in the eating behavior of people with...
What we're researching: How does adolescence affect self-esteem?
What's new: Why does body image self-esteem decline during adolescence?
What will we learn: What will help us avoid internalizing the perverted image of the ideal "beauty"?
1. The poor duckling did not know what to do, or where to go ("The Ugly Duckling" Andersen G.H.).
2. Adolescence is characterized by physiological, emotional, cognitive and social changes that lead to greater concern for appearance. The physical changes that accompany the onset of puberty require a constant restructuring of the adolescent's perception of his body, provoking increased concern about this image, which in many cases leads to a decrease in self-esteem (Ramos P. et al. 2019) [1].
3. Decreased self-esteem. Research shows that adolescence for girls and boys is a very vulnerable period for their psyche. Especially when it comes to their body image. If adult women and men often cannot identify their thinness as a serious eating disorder, then how can teenagers just starting in life understand this? There are a lot of stories from the life of "ugly ducklings". Most of them feel rejected, misunderstood, insecure, confused, and therefore close themselves off from everyone (social isolation).
• "Previous findings have shown a relationship between body image problems and the development of psychopathology in adolescence, particularly with internalizing symptoms (IS) [unconscious processes of internalizing the body image ideal, ed. by the author], that is, anxiety, depression or social isolation, which, in turn, is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders" (ibid., italics author).
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What is the reason for their social isolation or withdrawal?
4. Reason for isolation. Children and adolescents are unable to recognize the current state of eating disorders, leading them to anorexia nervosa bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder. It would be reckless to blame them for this since these illnesses are psychic and are often not recognized by them without professional help (I fr. 21. 11, 12). So we won't hear their candid, private stories of eating disorders. But there are exceptions, and they can be useful to us. For example, Zasha Mamet admitted that she hid the secret of her illness from everyone for a long time; it was her secret. She tried to fight alone with the obsessive desire to be even thinner and therefore almost died. The timely help of her father, doctors, and her efforts saved Zasha. However, she says her obsession with the imposed ideal of "beauty" remains with her today. Why might children and adolescents with a history of eating disorders continue to suffer?
5. Current causes of suffering. In the "Ugly Duckling" fairy tale, the chick is confused and depressed about his appearance for several reasons. At first, he did not know who he was and therefore compared himself with other chicks. Other inhabitants of the poultry yard did the same for the same reason. He also did not understand that he had to go through a process of natural maturation from a dirty gray and clumsy chick to a dazzling white and graceful swan. Similarly, adolescents are unable to truly evaluate themselves due to the "physiological, emotional, cognitive, and social changes" occurring in their bodies. As a result, they look for an image that they would like to emulate. Therefore, teenagers try to imitate fictional cinematic images or show business icons. By comparing themselves to these unrealistic images, their self-esteem drops significantly.
6. Low self-esteem. Like the ugly duckling, until a teenager knows his morphological individuality, he will suffer from low self-esteem, comparing himself with others (I fr. 15. 1, 4, 6). Suffering from low self-esteem, teenagers become very vulnerable to all external influences from the media.
• "Due to increased exposure to unrealistically thin ideals portrayed in the media, most adolescent girls are aware of these thin ideals. However, it has been suggested that adolescent girls experiencing low self-esteem are more likely to internalize the sociocultural ideal of thinness. Then the more these images are internalized, the higher the likelihood of social comparison, even despite the awareness that these images are unattainable" (author's italics) (Cribb V.L., Haase A.M. 2015) [2].
The inhabitants of the poultry yard, including the mother duck, formed the wrong idea in the chick about what he should be *. They believe he should look like a duck, while he was actually a swan chick. Like this fairy tale plot, external influences form from a young age the wrong idea of what a teenager should become, even if this idea is unrealistic and unattainable like a swan chick becoming a duckling. But whoever was able to go through the stage of growing up, and managed to recognize himself as a unique person (individual), awaits a miraculous transformation from an "ugly duckling" into an adult and beautiful person in all respects (I fr. 14. 18; II fr. 8. 4 –7).
*According to Andersen's fairy tale, he was a swan chick. However, neither he, nor his mother duck, nor the inhabitants of the poultry yard knew about this until he turned into an adult and beautiful swan.
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7. Summary. To avoid internalizing a perverted image of the ideal of "beauty," it is vitally important to form an individual image of a beautiful and at the same time healthy body, as opposed to an identical image of the ideal of a thin and sick body imposed from the environment.
Next Chapter: Forming Your Image Source
What we explore: How does body image develop?
What's new: What is the difference between identical body image and individual body image?
What we will learn: How does the formation of an individual body image begin?
References
1. Ramos P, Moreno-Maldonado C, Moreno C, Rivera F. The Role of Body Image in Internalizing Mental Health Problems in Spanish Adolescents: An Analysis According to Sex, Age, and Socioeconomic Status. Front Psychol. 2019 Aug 22;10:1952. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01952. PMID: 31507499; PMCID: PMC6714592.
2. Cribb VL, Haase AM. Girls feeling good at school: School gender environment, internalization and awareness of socio-cultural attitudes associations with self-esteem in adolescent girls. J Adolesc. 2016 Jan;46:107-14. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.10.019. Epub 2015 Dec 9. PMID: 26684660.
