ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of difficult life experiences in appearance struggles that, as we shall see from the literature, comes up time and again. Prevalence rates of childhood trauma in Western countries have been shown to be high, with the collective rates of neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse having been estimated to be up to 59%. Feelings of helplessness can be absolute for people who endure such trauma, with up to 88% reporting high to moderate levels of paralysis during a childhood sexual assault reporting high to moderate levels of paralysis during assault. Transactional analysis is built on three forms of ego function, namely the parent, the adult, and the child. The child ego state is preserved in its entirety from childhood. Importantly, the majority of children and adolescents entering the mental health system on account of appearance distress do so via their parents and usually via their mother.
