The Effects of Mental Health
When experiencing ongoing negative feelings towards body image this can eventually lead to a series of psychological and mental health conditions. Often times negative body image is tied to anxiety and depression. Anxiety could incur when you may feel judged or scrutinised especially in social situations and due to this it can lead to social isolation and avoidance. This loneliness could then turn into depression coupled with feelings of dissatisfaction and hopelessness with one’s body. (Change Mental Health, 2025).
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
This is where a person is overly concerned with their appearance and tends to see flaws in which only they can see. Something seemingly small to others is enormous to them and they tirelessly try to remedy this “fault” which therefore impacts their daily life in many ways. An article entitled Body Dysmorphic Disorder by Mayo Clinic describes this almost as a continuous cycle, “You may seek out numerous cosmetic procedures to try to “fix” your perceived flaw. Afterward, you may feel temporary satisfaction or a reduction in your distress, but often the anxiety returns and you may resume searching for other ways to fix your perceived flaw.” (Mayo Clinic, 2022).
Eating Disorders
These are easily developed when one experiences negative feelings associated with body dissatisfaction and these could quickly become compulsive and dangerous to one’s health. Some of these conditions include:
1. Anorexia Nervosa: An intense fear of gaining weight leading to a distorted body image, may be the restricting type which includes dieting, fasting, and excessive exercise. May also be the binge type, who vomits after eating or takes laxatives or diuretics. May experience infertility, brittle hair and nails, organ failure and death.
2. Bulimia Nervosa: Eat large amounts of food in a limited amount of time (purging), forced vomiting, fasting, the use of laxatives, diuretics, and enemas, can cause stroke or heart attack.
3. Binge Eating Disorder (BED): Eating larger amounts of food in a short period of time and in secret, experiences feelings of disgust, guilt, and shame. Risks heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
4. Rumination Disorder: When “A person routinely regurgitates food they have previously chewed and swallowed, re-chews it, and then either re-swallows it or spits it out.” (Petre, 2024).
There are many more eating disorders that could develop due to other conditions, but a main cause has been negative body image. A statistic found shows how eating disorders in Canada are underestimated, “3043 adolescents found that 2.2% to 4.5% met diagnostic criteria for ED, another study of a community-based sample found that 8% to 15% of participants aged 15 to 71 years reported clinically significant ED disturbances.” (The Public Health Agency of Canada, 2025).
As we can see there are serious consequences to allowing negative body image to overtake your mind but sometimes it is involuntary, it may be caused unintentionally and without us even knowing until it is too late. How could this happen? Let us consider our next related cause to body image issues, social media.