Body image
Body image is how you see and feel about your own body. It includes how happy you are with your appearance and how much you care about what others think of you. It’s a complicated topic that’s closely connected to your mental health and is influenced by many things like friends, family, social media, and culture. Anyone, no matter how old they are, can have issues with body image, and these issues can affect your mental wellbeing.
This page is packed with advice and information about what body image is, how it can affect your mental health, and ways you can boost your self-esteem when it comes to body image.
Let us know what resource works well for you. If you have any other suggestions for our self-help pages, please email ithrive@health-in-mind.org.uk.
Factsheets
Here are some factsheets that can help you better understand what body image is, the causes and what support is available.
Body image from Mental Health Foundation
Body image and mental health from Mental Health UK
Body image and mental health from Change Mental Health
Tips and information
Here you will find tips and information to boost your self-esteem in relation to your body image.
Tips to improve body image from the Mental Health Foundation
Ami Charlize and Dr Radha open up about self-esteem and confidence from BBC Bitesize
How to love your body from Mind Body Green *This is a commercial blog post
How to love your body from Psyche
Raising low self-esteem from the NHS
Body image and self-esteem from CAMHS
Support for body image & self-esteem issues
Body image and self-care from Beat
Organisations and services
Here is a list of UK wide organisations who can help.
Videos
If you are looking for local support, please go to our service directory to find out what services and projects are available to you.