9 Addictions to Cosmetic Surgeries:

Get Addicted in Seven Phases

Combining poor body image with shame, fear, jealousy and peer pressure may set off obsessions and/or addictions to cosmetic procedures and surgeries. There are phases and gradual steps that lead a person to create their own entrapment to the addiction.
For clarity sake, first let's define body image.

A working definition of body image is:

"A person's perception of his or her own physical appearance. Perceived body image is not necessarily related to any objective measure or the average opinion of other people; a person who has a poor body image may be rated as beautiful by others, and a person with a good body image may be rated as unattractive by others. Body image is most strongly affected during puberty."
As a clinician, I've encountered body image issues at every age. These concerns with body image issues might progress in stages; sometimes a person will stay in one of the phases for several years or a lifetime. Most people who are inflicted with moderate to severe body image issues may progress from one stage to the next as their discomfort with their body/body-parts grows.
Here are the seven phases of progression towards addiction to multiple cosmetic surgeries I've observed:

What Phase are you Trapped in?

1. Shame

Becoming self conscious and shamed of one own body and/or body parts. Shame has become the latest emotion that is attached to healthy, normal human body and body parts. Young people feel ashamed or attach the emotion of shame to a body part they learned to dislike.

2. Jealousy

When a person is preoccupying oneself with comparing and contrasting their body with other peoples bodies, investing energy and time comparing, contrasting, they are deep in jealousy. Over time, those experiencing degrees of jealousy and envy may get to a point where they lose the joy of life.

3. Body Surveillance

This is a belief, mostly by women, that how one looks is more important than how one feels. Body surveillance engages people obsessively in activities such as following the image of oneself in a mirror continually to check and examine how you look at present. Some will ignore their internal feelings; their focus is on their appearance. The higher the body-surveillance’s preoccupation, the lower the psychological well being such as self esteem.

4. Body-Dissatisfaction

This is a name of a state of mind beyond shame and jealousy. It is a constant and unhealthy state where people tend to be anxious, nervous, worrying, and insecure about their appearance. Example: Women who have successfully maintained weight loss but who continue to be unhappy with their physical appearance. Body dissatisfaction may show up as self-hatred in these women. Example: Blaming that body and/or body part for personal failures, mistakes and lack of success in relationships and life.

5. Body-Modification

Taking steps and measures towards body-modification: not workout and/or dieting but cosmetic procedures, treatments and surgeries. Some of these measures are irreversible at times. Body dissatisfaction research shows as many as 65 to 75% of females in this country are on a calorie restrictive diet in efforts to control or shrink their size at any given time. Aside from dieting, body-modifications include all range of the cosmetic procedures, from shots to surgeries.

6. Obsession with Body-Modifications

When a person is preoccupied with modifying their body, by oneself or with help of clinics, physicians and surgeons - they may be obsessed for some time. You may observe that when a person is 'done' with 'fixing' or enhancing the appearance of one body part, they immediately attach the same set of emotions to another body part. For the same person: the repeating of stages 1 trough 5 for same or other body parts is the core of obsession with body-modification

7. Addictions to Cosmetic Procedures

The feelings and behaviors that typify the addiction of cosmetic surgeries:

• Excessive shame, jealousy, body-surveillance, body-dissatisfaction, body-modification and appearance-obsessions.

• Feeling dissatisfied with one's looks and the results of previous cosmetic events, scheduling more procedures,

• Planning the next procedure while recovering from the present one,

• Keep on attacking same body part with multiple surgeries, thus becoming addicted to cosmetic procedures/surgeries.

'The making of an addict' in our culture is relevant to our mental health. This particular addiction does not have 'twelve steps' groups or gatherings – yet.

Watch for the people around you and for yourself:

Are you trapped in one of these phases?

Do you identify with those described feelings and behaviors?

Are you trapped between poor body image issues and addictions?

Do you see and make the connection between your emotions and actions?
Un-trap yourself! Do you or someone dear to you need help in any of these phases from body-image issues to addiction? Get help with those emotions, your body will wait.

 

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