Body Image Obsessed Teenagers: The Ever-growing Obsession with Body Image, and Its Mental and Psychological Repercussions on Teenagers

By Dueep Jyot Singh

Table of Contents

Introduction
Stereotyping Body Image
Excessive Teenage Centered Emotional Reaction regarding Appearance
Common Sense Tips for Parents
Parental Support
Binge Eating
Conclusion
Author Bio
Publisher

Introduction

I wanted to write a book on why more and more children are becoming obsessed with this term body image. Once upon a time, this term was used only by psychologists, and people who were bothered about Freud and Jung and scientific researchers, thinking of the corporeal aspects of a physical body, and what the mind thought about it consciously and subconsciously.

But since the time when it has come into popular usage, thanks to the Internet, even parents, who really do not know anything about child psychology have begun using this term with great impunity. According to them, body is a body, and the image is what your body looks like in the mirror!

And that is what the Internet would have you believe. According to sites out there, the body image is a reflection of what you see of yourself in the mirror. Actually, it is much more deeper than that, it is the mental visualization of the perception of your own body as you think of it, mentally in terms of attractiveness and its aesthetics. Paul Schilder, an Austrian psychologist thought up this term, way back in the 30s in one of his research papers, and since then people have begun obsessing on how they look, and how others “see” them and the first impression thereof.

That is natural, instinctive, and human and has been a part of natural selection for centuries, but as more and more teenagers are getting more obsessed with obtaining the perfect figure dictated according to the popular press, public media, and even social sites, this is definitely not good for their future emotional, spiritual, and even mental health. Physically they are going to ruin their good health by starving themselves because they want to be a zero size person. This drastic state of affairs was the reason why so many Hollywood stars, starved to death or drank themselves to death, because their studio chiefs had it written in the contract that they could not gain a pound of weight, while they were under contract!

This extremism was okay in the 30s and 40s, when it was glamour time in Hollywood, especially during the Great Depression, and human beings were held up as role models, goddesses, and every young girl was told to look like that particular star.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mendon Cottage Books
• Release date: Nov 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463299678

Book preview

Body Image Obsessed Teenagers

The ever-growing obsession with body image, and its mental and psychological repercussions on teenagers

Dueep Jyot Singh

Healthy Living Series

Mendon Cottage Books

JD-Biz Publishing

Download Free Books!

http://MendonCottageBooks.com

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without prior written permission from JD-Biz Corp Copyright © 2016

All Images Licensed by Fotolia, Pixabay, John Davidson, and 123RF.

Disclaimer

The information is this book is provided for informational purposes only. The information is believed to be accurate as presented based on research by the author.

The author or publisher is not responsible for the use or safety of any procedure or treatment mentioned in this book. The author or publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions that may exist.

Download Free Books!

http://MendonCottageBooks.com

Table of Contents

Introduction

Stereotyping Body Image

Excessive Teenage Centered Emotional Reaction regarding Appearance

Common Sense Tips for Parents

Parental Support

Binge Eating

Conclusion

Author Bio

Publisher

Introduction

I wanted to write a book on why more and more children are becoming obsessed with this term body image. Once upon a time, this term was used only by psychologists, and people who were bothered about Freud and Jung and scientific researchers, thinking of the corporeal aspects of a physical body, and what the mind thought about it consciously and subconsciously.

But since the time when it has come into popular usage, thanks to the Internet, even parents, who really do not know anything about child psychology have begun using this term with great impunity. According to them, body is a body, and the image is what your body looks like in the mirror!

And that is what the Internet would have you believe. According to sites out there, the body image is a reflection of what you see of yourself in the mirror. Actually, it is much more deeper than that, it is the mental visualization of the perception of your own body as you think of it, mentally in terms of attractiveness and its aesthetics. Paul Schilder, an Austrian psychologist thought up this term, way back in the 30s in one of his research papers, and since then people have begun obsessing on how they look, and how others see them and the first impression thereof.

That is natural, instinctive, and human and has been a part of natural selection for centuries, but as more and more teenagers are getting more obsessed with obtaining the perfect figure dictated according to the popular press, public media, and even social sites, this is definitely not good for their future emotional, spiritual, and even mental health. Physically they are going to ruin their good health by starving themselves because they want to be a zero size person. This drastic state of affairs was the reason why so many Hollywood stars, starved to death or drank themselves to death, because their studio chiefs had it written in the contract that they could not gain a pound of weight, while they were under contract!

This extremism was okay in the 30s and 40s, when it was glamour time in Hollywood, especially during the Great Depression, and human beings were held up as role models, goddesses, and every young girl was told to look like that particular star.

My mother talks about 1953 – 1954 when she was a young girl in England. At that time everybody was crazy after the delicate, fragile looking and very beautiful Jean Simmons – Lawrence Olivier’s dainty dream girl Ophelia and Stewart Granger’s first wife. Every young girl wanted to be like her, and they would not eat and drink, because they wanted to remain as pixie like unworldly and ethereal as that lovely lady.

If I continue this just one bowl throughout the day of fruit and vegetables for the next six months, and absolutely nothing else at all, I will soon be as lean and skeletal as Victoria Beckham.

At that time, nobody knew about body imaging, and they would not have bothered about it, but they were influenced by movie magazines, subconsciously, and so teenage girls would not eat. They wanted to be 5’4" in height, which in today’s day and age could almost be called dwarfish. And they did not want to weigh more than 80 pounds! Now tell me, which sensible young teenager is going to be healthy, with that sort of starvation of