Body image is a powerful factor in how people feel about themselves. If one suffers from body image disturbance, it often leads to a host of difficulties, ranging from low self-esteem to bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and body dysmorphic disorders. Successfully integrating explanations from social, interpersonal, feminist, and behavioral-cognitive psychology, Exacting Beauty is packed with invaluable research, case histories and descriptions, and treatment guidance. Clinicians, practitioners, and researchers will value this book for its rich, up-to-date coverage of how psychology grapples with the troubling relationship between psychological health and body image.

Includes Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire, Teasing Assessment Scale, Body Image Anxiety Scale, and the Multidimensional Body Self-relations Questionnaire. Table 4.1 includes a listing of measures used in theassessment of size estimation accuracy and subjective aspects of body image disturbance.

Body image issues are at the core of major eating disorders. They are also important phenomena in and of themselves. Kevin Thompson and his colleagues provide an overview of a wide variety of body image issues, ranging from reconstructive surgery to eating disorders. The book will be a valuable resource for even the most established researchers in the field, as it is filled with data, information about assessment tools, and a thorough treatment of virtually all major theoretical perspectives on the development of body image and their implications for treatment and prevention. At the same time, the authors' decision to include numerous experiential anecdotes makes the book easily accessible to those just entering the field who are trying to understand the nature of these phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved).

Body care and eco-consciousness need not be mutually exclusive, according to Deborah Burnes. In Part I of this timely book, she explains the historical roots of the search for beauty, and how it has led to a $60 billion cosmetics industry that misleads and confuses consumers on everything from product effectiveness to toxicity. In Part II, Burnes details options for buying natural and organic products in a range of budgets, with each graded on a "good," "better," or "best" scale in terms of chemical content and overall health impact. Part III discusses the positive effects chemical-free products have on overall health, and how those effects are expressed in the appearance of our skin. Part IV contains a wealth of facts, tips, and shortcuts to help consumers experience living green and enhancing personal beauty. Written in an engaging style but based in science, Look Great, Live Green offers a fresh perspective on living an eco-friendly, body-friendly, beauty-friendly lifestyle.

The growth of the service economy, widespread acceptance of cosmetic technologies, expansion of global media, and the intensification of scrutiny of appearance brought about by the internet have heightened the power of beauty ideals in everyday life. A range of interdisciplinary contributions by an international roster of established and emerging scholars will introduce students to the emergence of debates about beauty, including work in history, sociology, communications, anthropology, gender studies, disability studies, ethnic studies, cultural studies, philosophy, and psychology. The Routledge Companion to Beauty Politics is an essential reference work for students and researchers interested in the politics of appearance. Comprising over 30 chapters by a team of international contributors the Handbook is divided into six parts: Theorizing Beauty Politics Competing Definitions of Beauty Beauty, Activism, and Social Change Body Work Beauty and Labor Beauty and the Lifecourse The Routledge Companion to Beauty Politics is essential reading for students in Women and Gender Studies, Sociology, Media Studies, Communications, Philosophy, and Psychology.

Let's get real! Many people will never go to therapy. In addition, many people who go to therapy will make little or no progress largely because of the inability of the therapist. It is a monumental task to explore someone's psyche or to reconstruct human psychological functioning. When it comes to psychotherapy, we continue to fool ourselves and waste precious time. We need to tap into our own inner resources and use common sense to improve our lives. Be your own healer! Take responsibility for your life. Strive towards personal improvement. Rely on your own inner strength.You can hange yourself. Dr. Bacchus, in his book, Beyond Psychotherapy, provides 123 life changing ideas that will help you on your journey through life. You have much more ability within you than you realize. You can heal yourself. You can have a great life!