Handbook of Positive Body Image and Embodiment: Constructs, Protective Factors, and Interventions

For five decades, negative body image has been a major focus of study due to its association with psychological and social morbidity, including eating disorders. However, more recently the body image construct has broadened to include positive ways of living in the body, enabling greater understanding of embodied well-being, as well as protective factors and interventions to guide the prevention and treatment of eating disorders.

Handbook of Positive Body Image and Embodiment is the first comprehensive, research-based resource to address the breadth of innovative theoretical concepts and related practices concerning positive ways of living in the body, including positive body image and embodiment. Presenting 37 chapters by world-renowned experts in body image and eating behaviors, this state-of-the-art collection delineates constructs of positive body image and embodiment, as well as social environments (such as families, peers, schools, media, and the Internet) and therapeutic processes that can enhance them. Constructs examined include positive embodiment, body appreciation, body functionality, body image flexibility, broad conceptualization of beauty, intuitive eating, and attuned sexuality. Also discussed are protective factors, such as environments that promote body acceptance, personal safety, diversity, and activism, and a resistant stance towards objectification, media images, and restrictive feminine ideals. The handbook also explores how therapeutic interventions (including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Dissonance, and many more) and public health and policy initiatives can inform scholarly, clinical, and prevention-based work in the field of eating disorders.

Tracy L. Tylka is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at The Ohio State University. The Editor-in-Chief of Body Image: An International Journal of Research and a Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders, she has published many articles, chapters, and scales on positive body image.

Niva Piran is Professor Emerita in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at OISE/University of Toronto. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Academy for Eating Disorders, she has published extensively on embodiment, treatment, and prevention of eating disorders.