Despite ongoing criticism of strict beauty ideals, cosmetic surgeons and diet pill manufacturers continue to thrive and tolerance for body flaws seems to lessen every day. More and more people have begun to internalize a need for physical perfection. And the psychological distress that accompanies body image dissatisfaction leaves many individuals in a long-term struggle. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Body Image Dissatisfaction is a manual for practitioners seeking to help clients let go of self-judgment and preoccupation with body image. Mindfulness and acceptance approaches target the underlying anxiety and perfectionism that keep many trapped in destructive relationships with their bodies. This book presents a clear plan for showing clients how to clarify their values to help broaden their lives and refocus on what is most meaningful and vital to them. It presents a clear ACT protocol, complete with sample scripts, therapy exercises, case studies, and worksheets, for treating body image dissatisfaction. You'll learn from a wide range of clinical examples of body image dissatisfaction, some of which explore manifestations in medical populations. The treatment protocol in this book can be effectively applied to both men and women, across a wide age range.

For five decades, negative body image has been a major focus of study due to its association with psychological and social morbidity, including eating disorders. However, more recently the body image construct has broadened to include positive ways of living in the body, enabling greater understanding of embodied well-being, as well as protective factors and interventions to guide the prevention and treatment of eating disorders. Handbook of Positive Body Image and Embodiment is the first comprehensive, research-based resource to address the breadth of innovative theoretical concepts and related practices concerning positive ways of living in the body, including positive body image and embodiment. Presenting 37 chapters by world-renowned experts in body image and eating behaviors, this state-of-the-art collection delineates constructs of positive body image and embodiment, as well as social environments (such as families, peers, schools, media, and the Internet) and therapeutic processes that can enhance them. Constructs examined include positive embodiment, body appreciation, body functionality, body image flexibility, broad conceptualization of beauty, intuitive eating, and attuned sexuality. Also discussed are protective factors, such as environments that promote body acceptance, personal safety, diversity, and activism, and a resistant stance towards objectification, media images, and restrictive feminine ideals. The handbook also explores how therapeutic interventions (including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Dissonance, and many more) and public health and policy initiatives can inform scholarly, clinical, and prevention-based work in the field of eating disorders.

A Process-Focused Guide to Treating Eating Disorders with ACT At some point in clinical practice, most therapists will encounter a client suffering with an eating disorder, but many are uncertain of how to treat these issues. Because eating disorders are rooted in secrecy and reinforced by our culture's dangerous obsession with thinness, sufferers are likely to experience significant health complications before they receive the help they need. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Eating Disorders presents a thorough conceptual foundation along with a complete protocol therapists can use to target the rigidity and perfectionism at the core of most eating disorders. Using this protocol, therapists can help clients overcome anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and other types of disordered eating. This professional guide offers a review of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) as a theoretical orientation and presents case conceptualizations that illuminate the ACT process. Then, it provides session-by-session guidance for training and tracking present-moment focus, cognitive defusion, experiential acceptance, transcendent self-awareness, chosen values, and committed action-the six behavioral components that underlie ACT and allow clients to radically change their relationship to food and to their bodies. Both clinicians who already use ACT in their practices and those who have no prior familiarity with this revolutionary approach will find this resource essential to the effective assessment and treatment of all types of eating disorders.

Have you tried every diet or weight loss plan under the sun, but still can’t manage to lose weight and keep it off? You aren’t alone. Each year, Americans spend billions of dollars on weight-loss products, yet we continue to have the highest obesity rate in the world. After trying and failing countless times, you have to begin to wonder, “What am I doing wrong?” The problem with most fad diets is that they only attack the symptom of the problem, not the cause. No matter how much you try to deny yourself the food you crave, you always end up reverting back to bad habits. You might even lose weight initially, but more often than not you’ll gain it back—with a couple extra pounds to boot! In order to make real change in your life, you need to change the way you think about food, weight, and what’s most important to you. The Diet Trap offers proven-effective methods based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you develop mindful eating habits, self-compassion, and a greater understanding of what it means to live a valued life. ACT is a values-based therapy that has been proven effective for the treatment of weight loss. Because ACT encourages you to accept and experience uncomfortable emotions—rather than succumb to emotional eating—it helps you to stay on your path to lose weight, while also helping you develop compassion toward yourself, no matter how much you weigh. Written by two researchers in the field of ACT, this book offers evidence-based solutions to help you fundamentally change the way you think about food, so that you can successfully lose weight, get healthy, and live a happy, fulfilling life without costly and frustrating fad diets.

As a mental health professional, you know it’s a real challenge to help clients develop the psychological skills they need to live a vital life. This is especially true when you are working with time constraints or in settings where contacts with the client will be brief. Brief Interventions for Radical Change is a powerful resource for any clinician working with clients who are struggling with mental health, substance abuse, or life adjustment issues. If you are searching for a more focused therapeutic approach that requires fewer follow-up visits with clients, or if you are simply looking for a way to make the most of each session, this is your guide. In this book, you’ll find a ready-to-use collection of brief assessment and case-formulation tools, as well as many brief intervention strategies based in focused acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). These tools and strategies can be used to help your clients stop using unworkable behaviors, and instead engage in committed, values-based actions to change their lives for the better. The book includes a practical approach to understanding how clients get stuck, focusing questions to help clients redefine their problem, and tools to increase motivation for change. In addition, you will learn methods for rapidly constructing effective treatment plans and effective interventions for promoting acceptance, present-moment awareness, and contact with personal values. With this book, you will easily integrate important mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based therapeutic work in their interactions with clients suffering from depression, anxiety, or any other mental health problem.

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.

ESSENTIAL PSYCHIATRY FOR THE AESTHETIC PRACTITIONER Aesthetic practice requires an understanding of human psychology, yet professionals across cosmetic medicine and related fields receive no formal training in identifying and managing psychological conditions. Essential Psychiatry for the Aesthetic Practitioner provides concise yet comprehensive guidance on approaching patient assessment, identifying common psychiatric diseases, and managing challenging situations in cosmetic practice. This much-needed guide brings together contributions by dermatologists, plastic surgeons, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other experts to help practitioners understand the role of psychology in cosmetic practice and improve interpersonal relations with their patients. Assuming no previous background knowledge in psychiatry, the text provides cosmetic practitioners of all training and experience levels with clear guidance, real-world advice, and effective psychological tools to assist their practice. Through common clinical scenarios, readers learn to determine if a patient is a good candidate for a cosmetic procedure, enhance the patient experience, deal with difficult personalities in the cosmetic clinic, recognize obsessive compulsive and body dysmorphic disorders, and more. Describes how to use psychologically informed approaches and treatments for aesthetic patients Features easy-to-use psychological tools such as motivational interviewing, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, and acceptance and commitment therapy Includes extensive references and practical tips for understanding the psychological implications of cosmetic treatments Covers cosmetic consultations for female, male, and transgender patients Discusses the history and psychology of beauty as well as the role of cosmetics and cosmeceuticals Emphasizes the importance of screening for common psychological comorbidities Addresses the impact of social media on self-image and its role in a growing crisis in beauty and appearance Highlights the need to develop new guidelines to treat rapidly evolving patient populations Explores how gender fluidity and variations in ethnicity are changing the approaches to aesthetic patients Essential Psychiatry for the Aesthetic Practitioner is required reading for dermatologists, plastic surgeons, cosmetic doctors, dentists, nurses, and physician assistants and all other professionals working in aesthetic medicine.

The field of feeding and eating disorders represents one of the most challenging areas in mental health, covering childhood, adolescent and adult manifestations of the disorders and requiring expertise in both the physical and psychological issues that can cause, maintain, and exacerbate these disorders. The scope of the book is an overview of all the feeding and eating disorders from “bench to bedside”, incorporating recent changes introduced into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). The aim is to present one of the first complete overviews of the newly defined area of feeding and eating disorders with respect to genetics, biology and neuroscience through to theory and its application in developing clinical approaches to the prevention and treatment of feeding and eating disorders.

Let’s be honest: most people are unhappy with at least some aspect of their physical appearance. Just think of all the money we spend each year trying to improve our looks! But if worrying about your appearance is getting in the way of living, maybe it’s time to start thinking about body image in a completely new way. Based in proven-effective acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), Living with Your Body and Other Things You Hate offers a unique approach to addressing your struggle with body image. In this book, you will not be told that your self-perceptions are wrong, that your thoughts are irrational, or that your feelings are misguided. Instead, you will learn to live with the reality that these often painful thoughts and beliefs about yourself will arise from time to time, and that what is really important is accepting these distressing thoughts without allowing them to dominate your life. You know what it’s like to constantly be checking the mirror, to avoid certain social situations where your body may be exposed, or to gaze longingly at a fashion model in a magazine and think, “Why can’t I be her?” But what you may not know is that people who struggle with negative body image are at an increased risk for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and low self-esteem. Body image problems can even lead to major financial issues. By focusing on your appearance and little else, you are hurting yourself in more ways than one. If you are ready to find a purpose in life that is more important than the pain you feel about your appearance, this book provides a truthful, powerful resource.

ACT for Body Image Dissatisfaction is an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) manual practitioners can use to help clients overcome body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors such as food restriction and binge eating.