Chronic impriment & body image

Question 1

How is body image formed?

Answer 1

starts developing in early childhood.

Formed by thoughts, feelings, attitudes & beliefs about our bodies & how we look.

Can develop from:
-Family- teased about appearance during childhood, growing up w/ emphasis on appearance of particular ideal body size, family members experiencing body dissatisfaction & engaging in dieting
-Peer pressure- teenage girls & women to be slim, go on diets & exercise
-Media & Social pressures- promote appearance ideals, push fad diets & weight loss programs.

Question 2

Impact of negative body image

Answer 2

-Increase risk of engaging in unhealthy lifestyle behaviours e.g. dieting or restrictive eating

-Overexercising or not exercising at all

Question 3

Why is positive body image important?

Answer 3

• Protects against eating disorders
• Self-esteem higher
• Greater self-acceptance

Question 4

Body image disorders?

Answer 4

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)- mental health issue- person is overly preoccupied w/ perceived defect in appearance

Muscle dysmorphia (MD)- involves person excessively worrying about muscularity & muscle size

Gender dysphoria- gender specific body parts can cause distress in trans people. If person is in treatment for eating disorder, acknowledging gender identity is important step in treatment.

Question 5

what are the models that illustrate the impact of chronic illness on identity & strategies for adapting?

Answer 5

1. Loss of self
2. biographical disruption
3. narrative reconstruction

Question 6

What is the loss of self model?

Answer 6

-narrow, medicalised view of suffering

-solely defined as physical discomfort, ignores or minimizes the significance of suffer experienced by chronically ill adults

-Fundamental form of that suffering is the loss of self in chronically ill persons who observe their former self-images crumbling away w/out simultaneous development of equally valued new ones

Question 7

What is biographical disruption model?

Answer 7

-Chronic illness is that kind of experience where structures of everyday life are disrupted

• involves recognition of the words of pain & suffering, even death, which are normally seen as distant possibilities of plight of others

Question 8

What is narrative reconstruction?

Answer 8

-Peoples beliefs about the cause of their affliction (condition) need to be understood as part of a more comprehensive imaginative enterprise

-I.e. we all have a narrative, but when diagnosed w/ illness it disrupts that narrative, but also allows for a new narrative