4. The Negative Impact on Mental Health

Body shaming also negatively affects mental health. Zhao Ruinan published an article called “ Body shape weighs heavily on women” on China Daily described women engage in “fat talk” to talk about their body shape and they often are not pleased. Meanwhile Men also have a conversation about their body shape which is muscle talk. However, they engage in muscle talk because they want to look stronger( Zhao, 2019).The authors compare how men and women react to their body shape,usually men engage in such conversations because they want to look stronger rather than prettier.  Furthermore, they lose weight because of health problems. Women engage in “ fat talk” because they are overthinking about their body shape which negatively impacts their mental health. Furthermore, “ fat talk” shows women feel insecure and looking for support. They want to connect with others who have similar feelings to express their insecurity and to find satisfaction. Women who engage in “ fat talk” should be seeking mental health support.

The research done by Yi Wu and Amy Harriason focused on the experience of four adolescents who received treatment for eating disorders in China. The authors conduct an interview with the patients to ask them to share their experience and analyze the information. The research describes the needs of mental health support for the patients. These patients state that they received a lot of nutrition intervention which doesn’t help to reduce their anxiety and other mental related problems(Yi&Amy, 2019). This evidence shows that mental health is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Eating disorders physically and mentally impact patients.

Go Back

Next Section