Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of Body Image: Integrating Positive Body Image, Embodiment and Self-Compassion

Diana Burychka; Marta Miragall; Rosa M Baños

doi:10.5334/pb.1057

Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of Body Image: Integrating Positive Body Image, Embodiment and Self-Compassion

Psychol Belg. 2021 Jul 27;61(1):248-261. doi: 10.5334/pb.1057. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Diana Burychka^{1

2}, Marta Miragall^{1

3}, Rosa M Baños^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Valencia, Spain.
² Polibienestar Institute, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
³ CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Instituto Carlos III, Spain.

PMID: 34394951
PMCID: PMC8323527
DOI: 10.5334/pb.1057

Abstract

Body image (BI) disturbance is a relevant factor in the etiology and treatment of eating disorders (ED). Although progress has been made in recent decades in understanding BI and its relationship with ED, the efficacy of BI disturbance prevention and intervention programs is still limited. In order to reach deeper understanding of BI disturbance and clarify the interactions between some protective and risk factors related to this construct, we carried out a literature review on some specific BI-related factors that so far have been analyzed independently. We specifically examined positive and negative BI; embodiment and its role in the development of positive and negative BI; and self-compassion as a protective factor that promotes positive embodiment (vs. disembodiment) and protection against body shame. We conclude that integrating the available evidence on these factors into BI models may be used to enhance our understanding of BI and improve the efficacy of prevention and intervention programs to help fight negative BI (by reducing body shame and disembodiment) and promote positive BI (by increasing self-compassion and positive embodiment).

Keywords: body image; body shame; positive embodiment; self-compassion.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain under AN-BODYMENT (PSI2017-85063-R) and the grant “Programme for the Training of Researchers” (Formación de Personal Investigador, FPI), with the reference number PRE2018-084882, as well as, CIBEROBN, an initiative of ISCIII (CB06/0052).