For those of you who watch Celebrity Rehab 2, you’re probably aware of the extra clips on the VH1 website. In case you are not quite as obsessed with the show as I am, there was a clip where Sean talks to Dr. Drew about body image. Dr. Drew ends the conversation with this comment:

“I think the body image stuff is really a reflection of how you feel about yourself, and as that starts to improve I think this will take care of itself.”

Personally, bad body image has never “taken care of itself.” Even during periods when I have feeling pretty confident and good about myself as a person, it takes a lot of coaching to not hate my body. Usually I have to convince myself that I am adult and I’m not supposed to look like I’m 14 or that I’m not seeing myself accurately anyway, so why judge? Often I end up ignoring / hiding from my body. That works to decrease the obsession.. but I wouldn’t really say that it’s an indicator of good body image.

I’m not denying the connection between body image and self image–I just think it’s a little more complicated than that. Maybe it is that straightforward if you have never had any kind of an eating disorder… but Sean admits to bingeing and purging. He’s struggled with this in the past.

I am just a little annoyed that Dr. Drew brushed the issue off so quickly. In another clip, he talks about Amber’s inability to identify feelings… and how that deficit could lead her to use in the future. Don’t you think that negative body image could be a potential trigger, too?

I know that these patients are in treatment for addictions, not for eating disorders or negative body image. However, I feel like Sean brought something to Dr. Drew’s attention that he’s really struggling with (plus, as a guy, it’s probably harder to admit to), and Dr. Drew dismissed it–”this will take care of itself.”