Looking for the best Body Image books? Browse our list to find excellent book recommendations on the subject.
- The Body Image Workbook: An Eight-Step Program for Learning to Like Your Looks (A New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook) (2008)
- Body Image, Second Edition: A Handbook of Science, Practice, and Prevention (2012)
- Compared to Who?: A Proven Path to Improve Your Body Image (2017)
- The Body Image Workbook for Teens: Activities to Help Girls Develop a Healthy Body Image in an Image-Obsessed World (2014)
- Mothers, Daughters, and Body Image: Learning to Love Ourselves as We Are (2017)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Body Image Dissatisfaction: A Practitioner’s Guide to Using Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Values-Based Behavior Change Strategies (2010)
- The Body Language Rules: A Savvy Guide to Understanding Who’s Flirting, Who’s Faking, and Who’s Really Interested (2009)
- The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love (2018)
- Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance (2016)
- Befriending Your Body: A Self-Compassionate Approach to Freeing Yourself from Disordered Eating (2018)
- Body Kindness: Transform Your Health from the Inside Out–and Never Say Diet Again (2016)
- Body Horror: Photojournalism, Catastrophe and War (The Critical Image) (1998)
- Messages About Me: Sydney’s Story: A Girl’s Journey to Healthy Body Image (2017)
- Related YouTube Video
The Body Image Workbook: An Eight-Step Program for Learning to Like Your Looks (A New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook) (2008)
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to accept and enjoy the way you look instead of constantly worrying about and criticizing your appearance? What if instead of focusing on your flaws, you felt confident with the body you have right now? If you don’t like what you see when you look in the mirror, you may not realize that these feelings are entirely within your grasp.
Body Image, Second Edition: A Handbook of Science, Practice, and Prevention (2012)
The standard reference for practitioners, researchers, and students, this acclaimed work brings together internationally recognized experts from diverse mental health, medical, and allied health care disciplines. Contributors review established and emerging theories and findings; probe questions of culture, gender, health, and disorder; and present evidence-based assessment, treatment, and prevention approaches for the full range of body image concerns.
Compared to Who?: A Proven Path to Improve Your Body Image (2017)
Have you tried the diets, exercise programs, and self-help rituals, but still feel stuck when it comes to your body image? Do you sometimes feel frustrated because you compared yourself to others and fall short? Are you tired of Christian books that tell you ”It’s what’s on the inside that counts!” and leave you unchanged. Then Compared to Who? is for you.
The Body Image Workbook for Teens: Activities to Help Girls Develop a Healthy Body Image in an Image-Obsessed World (2014)
Like most teens, you want to feel good about the way you look. But what happens when the way you look just doesn’t feel good enough? Whether it’s online, on TV, or in magazines, images of impossibly perfect―and mostly Photoshopped―young women are everywhere. As a result, you may feel an intense pressure to look a certain way. Your friends feel the pressure too, which often creates a secret comparison competition that can make you feel worse about yourself.
Mothers, Daughters, and Body Image: Learning to Love Ourselves as We Are (2017)
When women are told that what is important about us is how we look, it becomes increasingly difficult for us to feel comfortable with our appearance and how we feel about our bodies. We are told, over and over—if we just lost weight, fit into those old jeans, or into a new smaller pair—we will be happier and feel better about ourselves.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Body Image Dissatisfaction: A Practitioner’s Guide to Using Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Values-Based Behavior Change Strategies (2010)
Despite ongoing criticism of strict beauty ideals, cosmetic surgeons and diet pill manufacturers continue to thrive and tolerance for body flaws seems to lessen every day. More and more people have begun to internalize a need for physical perfection. And the psychological distress that accompanies body image dissatisfaction leaves many individuals in a long-term struggle.
The Body Language Rules: A Savvy Guide to Understanding Who’s Flirting, Who’s Faking, and Who’s Really Interested (2009)
A young, fresh approach to the body language category, from an author who honed her skills working in the modeling industry The Body Language Rules is a breakthrough in body language books. Unlike other guides that only focus on business uses, this book takes a fresh approach by showing readers how to decode body language for social, dating, and other practical purposes.
The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love (2018)
Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies. The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems.
Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance (2016)
Every day, American women and girls are besieged by images and messages that suggest their beauty is inadequate—inflicting immeasurable harm upon their confidence and sense of wellbeing.
Befriending Your Body: A Self-Compassionate Approach to Freeing Yourself from Disordered Eating (2018)
Those who struggle with disordered eating often find themselves in an unrelenting cycle of harsh self-judgment, painful emotions, and harmful behaviors. Seeing the body as an adversary, these patterns can lead many people to become withdrawn or isolated.
Body Kindness: Transform Your Health from the Inside Out–and Never Say Diet Again (2016)
Imagine a graph with two lines. One indicates happiness, the other tracks how you feel about your body. If you’re like millions of people, the lines do not intersect. But what if they did? This practical, inspirational, and visually lively book shows you how to create a healthier and happier life by treating yourself with compassion rather than shame.
Body Horror: Photojournalism, Catastrophe and War (The Critical Image) (1998)
What compels us to look at shocking photographs or, alternatively, to look away? Should the media use disturbing images to inform, at the risk of offending? How is our sense of politics, morality, and culture affected when we are exposed to gruesome images of accidents and disasters, murder and execution, grief and death?
Messages About Me: Sydney’s Story: A Girl’s Journey to Healthy Body Image (2017)
We live in a great big world where we receive and send messages every day. Some of these messages are about our bodies and can alter the way we see ourselves. Join Sydney on her personal journey as she navigates through these messages with her friends and family. Learn how you can change the way you see these messages and your body and how you can help others. Be sure to check out our book for boys, Messages About Me: Wade’s Story A Boy’s Quest for Healthy Body Image.
Best Body Image Books: The Ultimate List
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some body image books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Decolonizing Wellness: A QTBIPOC-Centered Guide to Escape the Diet Trap, Heal Your Self-Image, and Achieve Body Liberation
Author(s): Dalia Kinsey
ID: 3384830, Publisher: BenBella Books, Year: 2022, Size: 650 Kb, Format: epub
Raising Body Positive Teens: A Parent's Guide to Diet-Free Living, Exercise, and Body Image
Author(s): Signe Darpinian; Wendy Sterling; Shelley Aggarwal
ID: 3459227, Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Year: 2022, Size: 1 Mb, Format: epub
The New Lean and Green Diet Cookbook for Beginners: 150+ Quick, Easy and Mouthwatering Recipes for Beginners with Full Color Image to Heal and Nourish Your Body from the Inside Out
Author(s): Madyson, Susie
ID: 2990168, Publisher: , Year: 2021, Size: 54 Mb, Format: pdf
Please note that this booklist is not definite. Some books are really best-sellers according to Chicago Tribune, others are written by unknown authors. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant resources you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.