Often times you won’t realize when someone is suffering from a negative body image. Here are a list of the characteristics and symptoms to look out for, and what to do to help your partner through her image issues.
In this latest video, I explain how a negative body image may sometimes manifest as a recent lack of intimacy; your wife or girlfriend choosing not to be naked during sex. You may also notice that she is not eating or eating very little, constantly checking the scale, or even taking a new prescription to lose weight. Compliments about her image from others may appear to her as a joke; she may have a hard time believing that others actually see her as beautiful.
Unfortunately, when dealing with a negative self-image, compliments are not enough to ease the problem. It’s important to understand that body image issues may weigh a lot on your wife or girlfriend and the solution must come from her own ability to see herself as beautiful; something that may not be so easy to uncover without the help of a professional.
If your girlfriend or wife is suffering from her view of herself, it may be time to have a conversation with one another.
It’s important for couples to sit down together and address the issue first hand, “Let them know how beautiful they are and how much you care, but also realize she will have to seek professional help. Sit down with her this evening, keep it as light as possible and see if she’s willing to find a therapist today.”
Watch my Live Your True Life Perspectives video to find out how to help your relationship as you work to support and comfort your girlfriend as she works through her negative self-image issues.
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Do not all women suffer from this to one degree or another? They are inundated with the beauty myth just as much as we men are with the “manly” myth.
I see it in my wife, who is outwardly as a strong and independent a woman as has ever existed.
And you are correct, this is where her man can make all the difference in the world. I counter that constantly, with both words and actions, but it’s more then that, because I believe it.
“. . . just as much as we men are with the ‘manly’ myth.”
What do you mean “we”? You’ve never had that problem in your life. It’s completely foreign to your experience. You never spent years of your life being ashamed of your body. In other words, you weren’t penalized one bit by the “manly” myth. You benefited from it.