The Hidden Behaviors Maintaining Body Image Distress (And How to Target Them)
When we think about eating disorders and body image work, we often focus on food behaviors first. But in session, some of the most persistent maintaining factors show up in far subtler ways: body checking and body avoidance.
In The Eating Disorder and Body Image Toolbox, Deanna Smith highlights how these behaviors quietly reinforce body dissatisfaction and why therapists need concrete tools to address them directly.
The Sneaky Forms of Body Checking
Body checking isn’t just mirror-gazing or stepping on the scale. It often shows up as:
- Body pinching – Repeatedly pinching areas like the stomach or thighs to assess size, firmness, or “change.”
- Compulsive clothing adjustment – Tugging at shirts, pulling down hems, or repositioning fabric out of fear that it accentuates a “problem area.”
While occasional adjustment is developmentally normal, the function matters. When clothing behaviors are driven by anxiety and constant self-surveillance, they become maintaining mechanisms.
Body Avoidance: The Other Side of the Coin
Body avoidance operates through restriction of experience. Clients may:
- Avoid in-person shopping or trying on clothes
- Refuse certain styles (tight clothing, trends, fitted items)
- Avoid haircuts or appearance changes due to fears about looking “bigger”
- Decline activities where their body feels exposed or judged
Avoidance temporarily reduces distress—but reinforces the belief that the body is unsafe, unacceptable, or intolerable.
Why This Matters in Treatment
Unchecked, these behaviors:
- Increase body preoccupation
- Strengthen distorted beliefs
- Maintain shame and disgust
- Interfere with exposure-based progress
Naming them clearly and targeting them systematically can shift treatment from insight to behavioral change.
If you’re looking for structured, weight-inclusive, ready-to-use interventions to address body checking and avoidance, The Eating Disorder and Body Image Toolbox offers over 100 practical tools you can bring directly into session.
To get started, download these free Body Checking Worksheets for Therapists you can use immediately.
Divided into four easy-to-navigate sections (core knowledge, general interventions, disorder-specific tools, and body image work), this toolbox gives you the foundation you need to support individualized, recovery-oriented care. Think of it as your companion to reshape your clients’ relationships with food and their bodies – starting right now.
