Reflections from the Appearance Matters Conference
Last week I was pleased to attend the Appearance Matters 11 Conference in Bristol run by the University of the West of England (UWE). It was the second time I’ve attended this conference which brings together researchers from all over the world on subjects relating to visible differences and appearance. This year body image was one of the key topics covered which was of particular interest to me because of the counselling work I do with clients in this field.
The line that stayed with me
The line that has stayed with me from the conference was in a presentation by Jana Stucke of Bielefeld University in Germany about the psychosocial burden of skin diseases. She described how her research shone a light on ‘the invisible burden of a visible burden’.
Her findings were powerful and outlined how awful comments from society can lead to ‘contagious’ levels of self-stigmatisation for sufferers and fear and hiding for both them and their families. Jana described how psychosocial support and helping individuals actively participate in the areas of life that matter to them made a real difference.
Whilst not wanting to diminish the challenges faced by individuals with skin diseases, I was also struck by the parallels I see in people who have the invisible burden of invisible burdens such as those with complex trauma which they might not be consciously aware of. They too self-stigmatise and are often guided by fear and secrecy.
Body image research that stood out
Some presentations stood out to me because of their focus on using therapy or collaboration and partnership to create forums for change on body image issues.
I was interested to learn about how cognitive behavioural therapy has been used effectively to support women to feel better about their body image after breast cancer treatment. Body image in this context is an area which has been overlooked. Issues can manifest in that period after treatment when the individual finds themselves alone with the reality of what they’ve been through. This group therapy, called ‘Accepting your Body after Cancer’ provides both psychological and behavioural support as well as a forum for women to share stories and experiences with others.
Phyllida Swift’s keynote presentation was inspiring not just to hear about her personal journey with facial injury but the work Face Equity International is doing in moving from advocacy to commercial partnership with Sephora UK. Bringing together lived experience of people with facial disfigurement with a leading beauty product specialist has created a forum for education, reach and traction on cultural change.
I also enjoyed taking part in a roundtable with researchers from an Australian task force tackling social media and the impact it is having on body image and eating disorders. It was valuable to understand more about the challenges which need to be overcome to create change in this space and to influence stakeholders.
Social media and body image – a consistent picture
Having studied a masters degree a few years ago, I’m well aware that the world of academic research can be removed from the reality of society and there can be time lags in getting findings into the public domain and issues with access to information that sits behind paywalls.
But what struck me about both this conference and the previous one is the work being done on social media and body image and the consistency of the impact it is having across racial and gender divides. A presentation on social media, racialised appearance and wellbeing by Beth Daniels referred to meta-analyses showing that heavier social media use is associated with stronger internalisation of a thin ideal, greater body image disturbance and higher self-objectification. Given that they reported 93–98% of girls in the US and UK use social media, the scale of the issue is significant.
I know this is a hot topic and, of course, hot topics attract researchers but some of the findings and statistics are powerful and I was left with the resounding feeling that there is still so much more work to be done in this field. A lot of research is conducted with student populations because of their availability to universities, but I would also like to see more studies about social media’s impact on body images amongst other generations and men.
What I bring back to my practice
Conferences like Appearance Matters inspire me to expand the questions I’m curious to answer. Appearance and body image are so fundamental to our wellbeing and it’s always valuable to spend time in the company of other professionals in this field.
What I bring back to my counselling practice is a greater awareness of the impact of visible differences, and a renewed recognition that both visible and invisible burdens need to be seen, named and held.
