A normal part of a girl s development involves a significant increase in fat and weight. Girls at relatively lower stage of ego development are concerned with bodily feelings and it is understandable that the onset of menstruation could disrupt a girl s sense of well being. Adolescent girls experience a number of bodily changes. They are forced to reorganize their body image. In a society that places a tremendous value on thinness, it is often difficult to assimilate these changes into a positive body image.
Many people suffering from depression also possess a negative body image.
Similarly, depressed college students manifest higher levels of body image dissatisfaction than non-depressed students, regardless of ethnicity or gender. Research has suggested that satisfaction with body s appearance is more salient in the self concept of college females than satisfaction with the body s effectiveness, with reverse findings occurring for males. The strongest predictor of CDI scores in regression analyses was dissatisfaction with body s attractiveness. While depressed adults perceived themselves as less physically attractive and reported less satisfaction with their bodies, objective evaluations of attractiveness did not differentiate the groups. The present findings indicate that depressed individuals do not have a global distortion of body image.