The Body Image Workbook: An Eight-Step Program for Learning to Like Your Looks
- Downloads：3403
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-11-25 05:51:55
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Thomas F. Cash
- ISBN：1572245468
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
- Download
Summary
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to accept and enjoy the way you look instead of constantly worrying about and criticizing your appearance？ What if instead of focusing on your flaws， you felt confident with the body you have right now？
If you don't like what you see when you look in the mirror， you may not realize that these feelings are entirely within your grasp。 You don't need extensive cosmetic surgery， pricey beauty treatments， or weight loss programs， but you may need to do something even more drastic-change your perspective and the way you view yourself。 The Body Image Workbook offers a comprehensive program to help you stop focusing on your perceived imperfections and start feeling more confident about the way you look。
As you complete the helpsheets in this book， you'll learn to celebrate your body instead of feeling ashamed of it。 This new edition includes discussions of our obsession with physical appearance and with body-fixing options。 It helps you discover your personal body image strengths and vulnerabilities and then guides you in creating new， life-changing experiences of mindfulness and body acceptance。 After completing this eight-step program， you'll look at yourself in a whole new light-seeing the beauty of the real you。
If you don't like what you see when you look in the mirror， you may not realize that these feelings are entirely within your grasp。 You don't need extensive cosmetic surgery， pricey beauty treatments， or weight loss programs， but you may need to do something even more drastic-change your perspective and the way you view yourself。 The Body Image Workbook offers a comprehensive program to help you stop focusing on your perceived imperfections and start feeling more confident about the way you look。
As you complete the helpsheets in this book， you'll learn to celebrate your body instead of feeling ashamed of it。 This new edition includes discussions of our obsession with physical appearance and with body-fixing options。 It helps you discover your personal body image strengths and vulnerabilities and then guides you in creating new， life-changing experiences of mindfulness and body acceptance。 After completing this eight-step program， you'll look at yourself in a whole new light-seeing the beauty of the real you。
Reviews
Katie
，
4。5 Hoopla borrow after a sudden surge in clients with body concerns。 First few chapters slow and not particularly helpful （too general to be of use）， but later chapters outlined very practical strategies for challenging specific thought patterns and changing symptomatic behaviors。 May order to make copies of worksheet pages for clients。
Luiza
，
Useful and helpful book for every person living nowadays！
Tobias Johnson
，
Here's an outline of Thomas Cash's protocol for improving body image:STARTING OUT1。 Find out where you're at。 Score your body image using a quick questionnaire （provided in book）。 Use this starting position to set goals for how you'd eventually like to view your body。2。 Go through your past to understand how and why you got to where you are。 What were the early life experiences， passive social conditioning， and other psychological variables that caused you to relate to your body the way you curr Here's an outline of Thomas Cash's protocol for improving body image:STARTING OUT1。 Find out where you're at。 Score your body image using a quick questionnaire （provided in book）。 Use this starting position to set goals for how you'd eventually like to view your body。2。 Go through your past to understand how and why you got to where you are。 What were the early life experiences， passive social conditioning， and other psychological variables that caused you to relate to your body the way you currently do？ Again， Cash provides resources to guide you here。DEVELOPING TOOLS3。 Learn mindfulness so that you can start to notice your automatic negative thoughts and be with them without pushing them away。4。 Identify your body image assumptions or 'self-schemas'。 These are truths about the body that we mindlessly assume e。g。 "Real men have big muscles"， or "Physically attractive people have it all"。 Then， learn to challenge them by questioning their validity and value。5。 Identify your body image distortions。 These are automatic negative thoughts that are distorted or biased。 Cash provides 8 types of common body image distortions， similar to the common cognitive distortions discussed in CBT。 Then， learn to challenge them with socratic questioning。6。 Identify your evasive actions。 These are ways we avoid certain 'activators' of our negative body image。 We correct， conceal， or compensate for what we think is wrong with us。 But these evasive actions end up damaging our lives， and introduce an added layer of pain on top of our normal body image concerns。 Use graded desensitisation for this。7。 Identify your body image rituals。 These are body-checking and -fixing behaviours that we incessantly do which reinforce our body image via confirmation bias。 If we feel fat， we will constantly pinch the most flabby areas of our body， for example。 Then， for each ritual write down how confident you would be on a scale of 1-100 that you could refrain from this ritual if you were in the situation where it normally occurs。 Build out a self-efficacy rating and then work through the list in a fashion similar to graded desensitisation。8。 Treat your body well。 Honour your body， treat it for what it is; a divine vessel that you are infinitely lucky to own。 View your relationship with your body like your relationship with your partner。 If you had a partner with whom you had a 5:1 ratio of negative:positive interactions， you'd dislike the partner and want to leave them。 The same is true of the body。 Shift the ratio by first righting wrongs。 Just as you would with a partner， start by literally writing a letter apologising to your body， promising improvements， and thanking it for the good things it has done for you。 Then， start taking 'affirmative action'。 These are actions that increase the mastery and pleasure you experience within your body。 They fall into three categories: 1。 Physical health/fitness （Honouring your body）， 2。 Sensate experiences （Experiencing your body）， 3。 Physical appearance （Glorifying your body）。 To sum this last step up: practice gratitude & appreciation towards your body， and act as if it's a sacred and blessed machine， because it is。The good:>Much needed book， especially given the increasing body image problems among teens & YAs。 The bad:>This book is written mostly from authority and is very light on citations。 I woulda liked a few studies that test whether or not these methods actually work。 Ah well， will have to have a dig myself >:（>WHY USE THE WORD ACCEPTANCE？！ I HATE this about ACT & Body Image Psychology。 They use the word "acceptance" in a way that implies observing things for what they are - in other words - to see clearly。 This is what is called 'vipassana' （literally: 'insight'） in Eastern traditions， and also pretty much equates to 'mindfulness'。 I wish they used one of these two words， instead of acceptance。 To most people， acceptance means more than clearly seeing。 It implies a kind of pathetic defeatist attitude。 To accept means to let something be and not attempt to change it。 The fact that ACT and Body Image Psychology has uses a completely different definition for 'acceptance' confuses the fuck out of people， including me。 Anyway， personal gripe。 One more thing though is that they not only use acceptance wrongly， they try to pretend their new definition is different from mindfulness。 It's literally the exact same shit。 I quote: "Acceptance means seeing things as they really are， and seeing them in the present moment。"， "Mindfulness is a way of consciously and purposefully stepping back and observing your inner experiences in the here and now"。 You could maybe argue that mindfulness is the process and acceptance is the outcome， but c'mon why not just use the term mindfully for everything instead of confusing tf out of people with acceptance。 People are repulsed by this term acceptance。>This book assumes that negative body image is ALWAYS a bad thing。 Insofar as it can motivate a positive life， I think it's relatively common for it to be a good thing。 If I got fat， I'd be thinking I looked mentally weak and physically like shit。 I'd even feel like this thought was true。 Would I get rid of that response if I could？ No。 Because I think it's extremely helpful that my standards keep me lean。 People clean their lives up all the time as a function of their dissatisfaction with the present。 In fact， the beautiful， prosperous world we live in today might be seen as almost entirely as a product of the incessant tendency of human beings to find problems and remain dissatisfied。 Each individual has to decide whether their negative body judgements are making their life better or worse。 For example， if you're pretty close to healthy and are experiencing diminishing returns when you work more on your body， is it really that productive to be having negative thoughts？ Not really。 But this more of an opinion than anything else。 Other people might think differently。 And this is where body image gets really complex imo。 Especially considering that oftentimes negative thoughts and emotions lead to a poor eating & exercise behaviour， and therefore worse body image。 Ah god it's just a mess。 If this paragraph confuses you it's because this topic is confusing。 Here are my final thoughts: People need to decide whether to work on their body image or not， and keep in mind two things。 The first being the net impact of a more positive body image on their health & appearance。 The second being the net impact of a more positive body image on their happiness。 Sometimes body image improvements have counterintuitive effects on each of those two things， so they need to be considered in advance。 。。。more
Jean Liu
，
I am an eating disorder dietitian and after going through the workbook to pick out thought experiments/handouts for clients， I have to say that this book FEELS like it's written by and for thin white folks。 I had to remind myself over and over that this book was first published in 1997， with the second edition published in 2008。 Body image does NOT exist in a vacuum of "just feeling bad about yourself，" it NEEDS to be deconstructed in the context of white supremacy， medical fatphobia， and SYSTEM I am an eating disorder dietitian and after going through the workbook to pick out thought experiments/handouts for clients， I have to say that this book FEELS like it's written by and for thin white folks。 I had to remind myself over and over that this book was first published in 1997， with the second edition published in 2008。 Body image does NOT exist in a vacuum of "just feeling bad about yourself，" it NEEDS to be deconstructed in the context of white supremacy， medical fatphobia， and SYSTEMIC OPPRESSION。 It is NOT just "all in their head" that a client is feeling poorly in their body and have now embodied body trauma。I still gave this handbook 3/5 stars because at large， I think it's one of the only body image handbooks out there， and it can do more help than harm for some。 However， 1 star docked because we all know by now that we must do better with trauma and intersectional identity work， and another star docked because many of the exercises are laced with are fatphobia， sexism， and overall reinforce some problematic beliefs。My best advice is this: if you're a clinician， please read through the workbook to find what exercises and sections may be helpful （and not）。 Send your clients parts of the workbook， censor out what will likely be harmful and triggering。 If you're a client/person looking to work on body image， know that this isn't the most comprehensive resource that I'd recommend any of my clients to buy and work through by themselves。 。。。more
Kit
，
Would've been better if it hadn't included some fatphobic language and ideas。 Would've been better if it hadn't included some fatphobic language and ideas。 。。。more
Maribel
，
This workbook is a step by step guide to learning to improve your body image。 It's filled with worksheets and exercises that take some time and effort。 Definitely worth the time and effort。 This workbook is a step by step guide to learning to improve your body image。 It's filled with worksheets and exercises that take some time and effort。 Definitely worth the time and effort。 。。。more
Alexis
，
This workbook would a very valuable addition to body image work with clients in therapy。
Kristina
，
Excellent
Bianca Ionel
，
Dacă ar fi să recomand cartea， ar fi în primul rând pentru cei adolescenți， care trec prin astfel de momente dificile legate de înfățișare。 Cartea nu se adresează persoanelor care se consideră grase sau slabe， ci tuturor persoanelor care au ceva de criticat la înfățișarea lor。 Celor care sunt nemulțumiți de forma nasului， de lungimea degetelor de la picioare sau de forma unghiilor de la mâini。https://www。biancaionel。com/blog/cons。。。 Dacă ar fi să recomand cartea， ar fi în primul rând pentru cei adolescenți， care trec prin astfel de momente dificile legate de înfățișare。 Cartea nu se adresează persoanelor care se consideră grase sau slabe， ci tuturor persoanelor care au ceva de criticat la înfățișarea lor。 Celor care sunt nemulțumiți de forma nasului， de lungimea degetelor de la picioare sau de forma unghiilor de la mâini。https://www。biancaionel。com/blog/cons。。。 。。。more
Drew Drew
，