Are there any psychological implications associated with nudism?

For decades, research has shown that dissatisfaction with body image is a serious and global problem that negatively affects psychological health. Much of it is due to overexposure to “idealized bodies”, such as those widely seen in magazines, television and, increasingly, on social networks.

Nudism

(also known as naturism) is a practice and sometimes a lifestyle that focuses on non-sexual public nudity. As someone who grew up in the United States, I learned very early in my life that this was taboo.

I mean, whenever nudism was discussed or portrayed in the media, it was always the butt of the joke (pun intended). The impression I had was that no “normal” person would do this and that simply being naked in front of other people is bad, pathological and perverted. The field began in the 1930s with psychological studies on the effects of social nudity on the lives of naturists. The use of non-sexual social nudity as an intentional means to improve the participant's psychological health.

For a long time, many people, even health professionals, assumed that public nudity was a sign of psychological dysfunction.