Chapters authored
Beauty, Body Image, and the Media
This chapter analyses the role of the mass media in people’s perceptions of beauty. We summarize the research literature on the mass media, both traditional media and online social media, and how they appear to interact with psychological factors to impact appearance concerns and body image disturbances. There is a strong support for the idea that traditional forms of media (e.g. magazines and music videos) affect perceptions of beauty and appearance concerns by leading women to internalize a very slender body type as ideal or beautiful. Rather than simply being passive recipients of unrealistic beauty ideals communicated to them via the media, a great number of individuals actually seek out idealized images in the media. Finally, we review what is known about the role of social media in impacting society’s perception of beauty and notions of idealized physical forms. Social media are more interactive than traditional media and the effects of self‐presentation strategies on perceptions of beauty have just begun to be studied. This is an emerging area of research that is of high relevance to researchers and clinicians interested in body image and appearance concerns.
Part of the book: Perception of Beauty
Psychotherapeutic Interventions for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
This chapter explores the efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This condition can lead to serious adverse health outcomes (e.g., cardiovascular disease, blindness, loss of limbs, etc.). Medical interventions alone are often not sufficient to manage the disease. Psychotherapy can promote behavioral change that improves medication adherence, dietary choices, exercise, stress, and other variables that affect blood sugar levels. The current chapter summarizes the trends in recent research for psychotherapeutic interventions for the management of T2DM. The results from 16 randomized controlled trials on cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, counseling, and mindfulness-based therapies are discussed. These interventions varied in length (3 to 18 months) and were conducted in many geographic regions (e.g., Australia, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and more). Changes in biological health outcomes (i.e., HbA1c levels) were the primary focus of this chapter, but diabetes-related behavioral changes (e.g., diet and exercise) and psychological variables (e.g., stress, depression, and well-being) are also discussed. This chapter highlights that recent research has provided the most support for mindfulness-based therapies for improving blood sugar levels in patients with T2DM.
Part of the book: Psychology and Pathophysiological Outcomes of Eating