Page 21 - Healthy (March - April 2020)

BODY CONFIDENCE

OVERCOME

body image

ANXIETY

THE EXPERTS
We’ve seen the body positivity movement and now the
body neutrality movement, which calls for bodies not to be
commented on at all. And yet poor body image continues
to affect many women, touching all aspects of our lives and
wellbeing. Here’s how to knock the negatives into touch HOLLI RUBIN
is a psychotherapist, mental
W O R D S B Y K AT H R Y N B L U N D E L L
health practitioner and body-
I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y T A R A O B R I E N
image specialist

or most of us, our body is an integral
part of our identity. Not just a thing
that contains us, but the thing through NATASHA DEVON
F which we experience life and how is a mental health activist
other people see us. ‘How you walk and talk, how and presenter of Channel 4's
you express yourself and get dressed in the Naked Beach
morning, all of that has to do with how you feel
about yourself – physically and emotionally,’ says
psychotherapist Holli Rubin. It’s why, sometimes,
how we judge our appearance can impact our mood
and confidence, and yet when self-image causes
anxiety, the issue isn’t our physical selves, it’s years
of being conditioned to believe certain shapes and DR HELEN CARE
characteristics are normal – valuable even. is a clinical psychologist who
‘We’re told from an early age that the body is works with people who have
something to be shaped, and that the more appearance issues
conventionally attractive you are, the happier and
more successful you’ll be,’ says mental health
activist Natasha Devon. ‘It also has a feminist
aspect – the easiest way to shame women is to
comment on their body, because this is how we’ve
been valued.’ That shame can be internalised so we DR AMANI ZARROUG
barely register it, never questioning the validity of is a clinical psychologist as
post-pregnancy snap-back stories, miracle weight- well as a relationship and
loss journeys and marvelling at makeovers, even psychosexual therapist
though we know these standards – perpetuated

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