Being overweight doesn’t necessarily make a person distraught, researchers are learning. Rather, it’s the teasing, judgment and unsolicited advice directed at overweight people that can cause the greatest psychological harm.
“People assume there is a direct relationship between how much people weigh and their psychological health,” said Jeffrey Hunger, a doctoral candidate in social psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “Our research and other research is showing that no, it’s not about their weight, it’s the treatment they faced and what they worry they will face.”
In a recent report published in Social and Personality Psychology Compass, he and his colleagues found that those who were overweight or obese were more likely to report problems like depression, anxiety, substance abuse and low self-esteem if they had experienced weight-based discrimination in the past. Being the target of weight discrimination can also lead to self-sabotaging behaviors like avoiding the gym or doctor’s office in order to protect against future stigmatization.
[For more of this story, written by Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, go to http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/...?ref=health&_r=1]
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