Body image and emotional infidelity are deeply intertwined. Negative body image can cause and maintain emotional infidelity, and emotional infidelity frequently worsens how we feel about our bodies.
How Negative Body Image Drives Emotional Infidelity
- Chronic dissatisfaction with physical appearance depletes psychological resources
- Body shame — a particularly painful form of shame — directly drives emotional infidelity
- Comparison of body to social standards is a primary emotional infidelity trigger
- Body image concerns often involve the same negative self-evaluation patterns as emotional infidelity
How Emotional Infidelity Affects Body Image
Emotional Infidelity 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 Emotional Infidelity 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 emotional infidelity
- Therapy: CBT and ACT effectively address both body image and emotional infidelity