Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Body Image Dissatisfaction by Victoria Follette

Author:Victoria Follette [Adria N Pearson, Michelle Heffner, Victoria M. Follette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608827244
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Published: 2010-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

The alternate solution to digging is, of course, putting down the shovel. If clients do not suggest this alternative, you may suggest it and ask how that translates into doing something different in their life.

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Clients will often be perplexed at the thought of putting down the shovel. They may ask, “Doesn’t that mean giving up? I am not a quitter.” They may even be offended because they think that you are suggesting that they resign themselves to living in a hole. In that case, it may be helpful to discuss that clients are not quitting. Instead, they are acknowledging that they are in a situation that they cannot control and are letting go of a struggle they cannot win. They may even consider the possibility of being more comfortable in their hole. What is familiar is often comfortable, even if it is a destructive behavior or a behavior that causes suffering. The process of accepting emotional pain that comes with letting go of old, familiar coping strategies is difficult. Those who are willing to let go of old ways of coping are courageous in facing the reality of existing emotional pain.

At this time, clients may realize that they are being asked to consider giving up their long-held control strategies. Given that this book is about body image dissatisfaction rather than serious eating disorders, one problem you may encounter is a lack of personal cost that clients have experienced from being overly focused on body image. Why not hold on to it? Why not keep focusing on losing the last ten pounds or finding the “right” diet? The answer to this lies in the distress that the struggle evokes. It may be useful to remind your clients of the age at which they first began the struggle with body image or disordered eating patterns. Eliciting from clients the number of diets, hours per day, or energy given to this area of their life is also a useful tool to show unworkability. Further, having clients describe the situations in which they have used this as a strategy to avoid dating, social engagements, interpersonal relationships, sports, or wearing certain clothing, or generally how often they have felt uncomfortable in their own body is also useful.

In other cases, clients will challenge the notion that letting go is a viable alternative. The Polygraph Metaphor (below) is helpful in working with client resistance.

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