Transforming Body Image: Learning to Love the Body You Have by
Marcia Germaine Hutchinson is a self-help book for women who have negative body image (though it wouldn't be difficult, I think, to adapt the content for men to make use of, as well). Each chapter in this book provides mental exercises and workbook-style questions for the reader to answer on her own.
Hutchinson makes a point of focusing attention on mental, rather than physical, changes, but unlike some other books on this topic, this one isn't all about feeding the reader pages of insincere flattery.
Hutchinson's methods are very introspective and are designed to take time and real effort. There are stories from women who have taken
Hutchinson's workshop using these exercises, and though the four women featured in the final chapter were still working through their issues well after the workshop had taken place, they all had significantly improved mindsets about their bodies.
In my opinion, the fact that these women were still works in progress, so to speak, lends Transforming Body Image a certain amount of credibility. It proves that Hutchinson isn't trying to sell readers some kind of quick fix in her book. Changing your self-image is not something that can be accomplished overnight, and this book acknowledges that and encourages readers to take their time and really focus on each exercise individually until they feel they've improved in each step. It rings very genuine to me.
