What is a body image disturbance?

Body Image is how you feel about your body and what you do about those feelings.  Some people feel bad about their bodies and try to change them though a variety of means (called Appearance Management Behaviors).  These AMB include routine behaviors such as cutting or coloring hair, shaving, ironing, and changing clothing.  Non-routine behaviors are invasive, sometimes dangerous, and include changing eating habits, working out, exercise, or even surgery.  

Disordered eating includes crash dieting, yo-yo dieting, fasting, and bingeing & purging. 

Disordered exercise includes working out (or exercising) for long periods of time, using steroids, over-the-counter products, and avoiding foods (i.e., carbohydrates) that you feel may "hurt" your muscles. 

Disordered behaviors are dangerous because of the toll they take on the mental, physical, and spiritual body.  Mentally, people with body image disturbances are seeking to fit-in with cultural or social standards.  Physically, they are harming themselves by avoiding food, destroying bone and cartridge, harming muscles (including the heart and lungs), and eroding the enamel of the teeth.