Compassion-Based Interventions to Facilitate Positive Body Image and Embodiment

Abstract

A growing number of interventions for body image and eating disorders now seek to build individuals’ capacities for self-compassion and other-compassion. Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) helps self-critical individuals to relate to themselves and others from a more compassionate mindset and to grow more comfortable receiving compassion from others. Though more empirical research is needed, preliminary studies revealed that in women with eating disorders, body image preoccupation, or the presence of overweight or obesity, CFT-based interventions can reduce eating pathology, decrease shame, improve body image, increase capacities for self-compassion and other-compassion, and improve health. In addition, mindfulness meditations that focus on the cultivation of self-compassion and other-compassion have been found to improve body image-related experiences, including body appreciation. It will be important to extend the extant research by conducting larger scale studies of compassion-based interventions in mixed-gender samples with a greater focus on assessing positive body image outcomes.

The Moderating Effect of Body Appreciation on the Relationship between Self-Esteem and Life Satisfaction

“…Practices such as mindfulness or yoga can also be helpful in facilitating positive body image and embodiment [104][105][106]. Among treatment programs, compassion-based interventions [107], cognitive-dissonance-based interventions [108], emotion-focused therapy [109], and acceptance and commitment therapy [110] can be recommended to increase body appreciation, self-esteem, and well-being levels.…”