Tell your friend to talk to a trustworthy adult. It is absolutely difficult to tell someone else about your concerns. Addressing body image offers your friend the best chance for working through these issues and becoming positive again. Don’t wait until the situation is so severe that your friend’s life is in danger. Your friend needs a great deal of support and understanding.
Be honest. Approach them openly and talk with honestly about your concerns with the friend who is struggling with eating or body image problems. Avoiding it or ignoring it won’t help! Try the ‘I’ statements such as ‘I am very worried about you’, ‘I am here for you ’etc.
Be a good role model. Show them in regard to sensible eating, exercise, and self-acceptance. Insure that you do everything in your power to be a good role model.
Compliment. Complement your friend’s about their uniqueness. Remind them of their wonderful personality, successes, or accomplishments. Advice your friend that “true beauty” is not skin deep. Always tell the friend with body image issues that they look beautiful. However, it could be helpful to focus on complimenting them on things that are completely unrelated to their appearance such as complementing them on their talent/skill. It is likely that they already spend too much time and energy thinking about what they look like. Therefore, shifting focus onto more meaningful things that you appreciate about them is beneficial. This will help them to see the true value about themselves. Over time, hopefully they will realize that there are so many things about them that matter more than whether they fit into an arbitrary societal ideal of beauty.
Fashion style 09
how to help your friend
Advice your friend about eating disorders. Give them books to read, articles, and brochures.