Body Image: A Handbook of Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice

This uniquely integrative handbook provides a comprehensive account of current theory, research, and clinical practice in the area of body image and body image disorders. The volume's 57 brief chapters have been contributed by internationally recognized experts from diverse mental health, medical, and allied health care disciplines. Conceptual approaches for understanding body image are reviewed, lifespan developmental factors examined, and the influences of gender, physical characteristics, family factors, sexual orientation, and sociocultural variables evaluated. Cutting-edge information is presented on understanding and treating such problems as eating disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, and negative body image experiences associated with disease or other physical conditions. Specific assessment techniques are reviewed and evaluated, and the evidence is examined for a wide range of clinical management approaches, including contemporary psychosocial treatments, weight loss and fitness regimens, psychopharmacology, and surgical interventions.

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Building on their Body images: development, deviance, and change (1990), Cash (psychology, Old Dominion U., Norfolk, VA) and Pruzinsky (psychology, Quinnipiac U., psychology of plastic surgery, New York U. School of Medicine) introduce 56 papers on the conceptual foundations of, and multiple perspectives on, the experience of embodiment. Perspectives include developmental, assessment, individual and cultural differences, issues in medical contexts, and negative body image changes through surgical and psychosocial interventions. Lastly, the editors make recommendations primarily relating to refining the body image construct. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Thomas F. Cash, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He has published over 150 scientific articles and chapters on the psychology of physical appearance. The developer of an empirically supported program to help people have a more positive body image, Dr. Cash has served on the editorial boards of several professional journals and is currently founding a new international journal of body image scholarship. His website is located at www.body-images.com.

Thomas Pruzinsky, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Quinnipiac University and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the New York University School of Medicine. His research and clinical interests focus on the psychological aspects of plastic and reconstructive surgery, and he has published numerous articles and chapters on these topics. Dr. Pruzinsky has served as a manuscript reviewer for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Health Psychology, and the Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Journal.