Encouraging body acceptance is the focus of new therapeutic content and activities available to young people via MOST, Orygen Digital’s online mental health service.
With body image ranked in the top three concerns of young Australians in Mission Australia’s Youth Survey Report 2020, the content challenges MOST users to be self-aware of their relationship with their body and encourages self-compassion.
Orygen senior clinician, Dr Reem Ramadan said the new body image content focuses on how young people’s relationship with themselves and their bodies, impacts their relationships with others.
“We wanted to try and support people to think about how body image concerns can have a detrimental effect on their mental health,” she said.
“Young people can often feel critical of themselves leading them to avoid relationships with others – which can result in feelings of loneliness. This can also cause some to avoid working in certain roles because of the feeling that they’re not good enough.
“The concerns about body image can lead to people developing emotional distress and even mental health ill-health – not just eating disorders but anxiety disorders, such as social anxiety and depression.
“These can be really significant to young people lives and body image dissatisfaction can be an underlying factor that can affect them for a long time, Dr Ramadan said.
The new content has been produced by the Orygen Digital clinical content team and the Orygen eating disorders team in response to requests from both young people and clinicians.
Orygen Digital Clinical Content Manager, Belinda Paterson said, the collaboration recognised the expertise available within Orygen.
“We are so thankful for the support of Dr Reem Ramadan and Dr Alexandra Griffin from Orygen eating disorders team who helped bring this content to life," she said.
“There’s a gap in the mental health system for body image content and it’s one of our most requested topics from clinicians and young people."
Dr Ramadan said the amount of body positivity content available online can send unhelpful messages to young people, so the team set about creating content encouraging body acceptance.
“What's more realistic is this ‘body acceptance feeling’ – that you can feel happy about aspects of your body at different times. Sometimes you might not feel happy about all aspects of your body, but also that your body is more than just what it looks like - it serves you in many great ways.
“There are some good examples of this on MOST that reinforce body image is not only about body shape or size,” she said.
The new content is available to young people signed up to Orygen Digital’s mental health service aged 12 - 25 who live in Victoria and Queensland.
Orygen Digital – the technology division of Orygen – harnesses technology, science and creativity to digitally enhance and transform mental health care.
Find out more: MOST.