Body image and climate anxiety are deeply intertwined. Negative body image can cause and maintain climate anxiety, and climate anxiety frequently worsens how we feel about our bodies.
How Negative Body Image Drives Climate Anxiety
- Chronic dissatisfaction with physical appearance depletes psychological resources
- Body shame — a particularly painful form of shame — directly drives climate anxiety
- Comparison of body to social standards is a primary climate anxiety trigger
- Body image concerns often involve the same negative self-evaluation patterns as climate anxiety
How Climate Anxiety Affects Body Image
Climate Anxiety can worsen body image through reduced self-care motivation, changes in appetite and weight, and a general negative lens that extends to physical self-perception.
Addressing Body Image and Climate Anxiety Together
- Body neutrality: Not requiring positive body feelings, just reduction of hostility
- Body functionality focus: What your body does vs. how it looks
- Intuitive eating: Reconnecting with hunger and satisfaction cues disrupted by climate anxiety
- Therapy: CBT and ACT effectively address both body image and climate anxiety