Compromissione dell’immagine corporea. Percezioni e valutazioni soggettive in adolescenti e giovani adulti

The body image construct refers to the ways in which the body is considered, perceived, and evaluated. The ideal body image has been dramatically changing over the centuries; the discrepancy between real and ideal body, today, leads many individuals to be dissatisfied with their body, developing negative feelings and implementing, in some cases, behaviors harmful to their health. All this has led, in recent decades, to a real cult of the body; in fact, in Western culture it has turned into an idol, a strict and demanding god one often becomes a slave of. This work represents a bibliographical review on the main theories concerning the theme of the body image, thus opening a space for reflec- tion on the disorders connected to it, first of all that of body dysmorphism.