Body Image and its Disorders

1974 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin C. Shontz
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Behavioral Treatment ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Experience ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Techniques ◽  
Body Organ ◽  
Body Image Disorder ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
The Individual

The body image is not a body organ, a psychological picture, or a little-person-in-the-head. It is best described in terms of the functions it serves and the levels at which it is experienced. The body functions as a sensory register, an instrument for action, a source of drives, a stimulus to the self and others, a private world, and an expressive instrument. The four levels of body experience are schemata, self, fantasy, and concept. A complete description of a body image disorder identifies the source of the disorder and its effects on the functions and levels of experience. Behavioral treatment for body image disorder may develop basic sensory-motor capacities, teach specific skills, promote interpersonal relations with others having similar problems, or use traditional psychotherapeutic techniques, depending upon the needs of the individual patient.

Body Image in Chronic Illness—A Reconceptualization

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Vamos
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Patient Experience ◽  
Classification System ◽  
Chronic Illnesses ◽  
The Body ◽  
Physical Disorder ◽  
Clinical Use ◽  
Body Experience ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Disease Specific

Objective: Was to construct a classification system of the body image specifically relevant to patient experience of chronic physical disorder. Method: To review both previous writings on body image and also data on psychosocial factors relevant to a variety of chronic illnesses. From this were derived four component parts of body image: comfort, competence, appearance and predictability. These are discussed in general and disease-specific terms. Results: Using this format, a classification system is offered. This is intended to be simple enough for routine clinical use and yet to offer some insight into body experience. An example is given. Conclusion: Separating out the aspects of body image relevant to physical illness provides a clinically useful classification system. Further work is needed to determine its applicability as a research tool.

scholarly journals PERSONALITY’S CORPOREALITY INTELLIGENCE INDICATORS RESEARCH

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena Siliytina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Subjective Assessment ◽  
The Body ◽  
Actual State ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Study Results ◽  
The Individual

The article contains a personality’s corporeality intelligence phenomenon specifics theoretical analysis statement. The article presents the personality’s corporeality intelligence shaping factors - self-assessment, gender roles of the individual and his sexuality, regulatory, cognitive and emotional structures of the personality, assessment of their appearance and body image, health and subjective assessment – theoretical analysis results. The procedure and methodical bases of personality’s corporeality intelligence formation factors studying are described. The specifics of self- assessment, self-regulation, attitude to health and the severity of its emotional and social components empirical study results are presented. The results of empirical data set factor analysis were analyzed, which made it possible to identify individual’s body intelligence manifestation trends. It is established that the body image acts as a system-repeating factor in the self-identity system formation; corporeality intelligence acts as a combination of perception of the body, sexuality and actual state of health; loss of interest in oneself and one's body is a consequence of guilt or the need for self-restraint; emotional response to the sphere of the body depends on the success of human self-regulation; competence and self-regulation as components of corporeality intelligence form an inseparable unity; sexuality as an aspect of the individual’s corporeality intelligence is socially conditioned and depends on the system of personal relationships; independence and self-sufficiency are important factors in the social health of the individual, etc.

BODY PHYSICALITY AS A KEY FACTOR OF MEDIA SELF PRESENTATION – BODY IMAGE IN ADVERTISING

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Miroslav Zelinský ◽  
Ivana Bulanda
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Mental Image ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
The Individual

The contribution is a consideration of the role of a human body in personal, physical reflections, in the field of art and in media space. The presented text is a thought starting point for a scientific study of the role and forms of the human body in contemporary advertising. In contemporary modern society, there is an increasing interest in the appearance and presentation of the body in its female or male modality. Body image is a complex, dynamic and multidimensional aspect of an individual’s personality, determined by a number of individual and socio-cultural factors. Body image creation takes place under the influence and experience of information and it can change throughout life. The perception of body image is linked to the general ideas that the culture connects with the ideal form of the body. It is not only a mental image, but also includes an assessment component, an attitude based on cognitive schemes and emotional processing of information with which the individual is confronted

Body experience and mental representation of body image in patients with haematological malignancies and cancer as assessed with the Body Grid

2001 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cora Weber ◽  
Ekkehard Bronner ◽  
Pia Thier ◽  
Frank Schoeneich ◽  
Otto Walter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Haematological Malignancies ◽  
Body Experience

Awareness of body dimensions during pregnancy: an analogue study

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. D. Slade
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Perception ◽  
Analogue Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Body Image Disorder ◽  
Normal Women ◽  
Better Than

synopsisTwo alternative explanations of the body-image abnormality in anorexia nervosa patients are outlined: namely, the ‘abnormal sensitivity’ and ‘adaptational failure’ hypotheses. Evidence relating to these 2 conflicting hypotheses was obtained from body-perception measurements carried out on groups of pregnant women.In the first study 40 pregnant women, at approximately 4 months' duration, were found to overestimate their bodily dimensions, albeit to a lesser extent than the previously tested group of anorexia nervosa patients (Slade & Russell, 1973a). When they were subdivided on the basis of a history of weight change over the previous 12 months, the ‘stable weight’ subgroup was found to overestimate significantly more than the ‘weight gain’ and ‘weight loss’ subgroups.In a second study 16 of the original group of pregnant women were retested at approximately 8 months' duration. Although their weight and bodily dimensions had increased on retesting, their tendency to overestimate was found to be significantly reduced.It was concluded that the phenomenon of body-image disorder is not specific to anorexia nervosa, extending not only to patients with obesity and to some normal women, but also to women during pregnancy. Moreover, the ‘abnormal sensitivity’ hypothesis was considered to fit these and other recently accumulated data better than the alternative ‘adaptational failure’ hypothesis. Some of the theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

scholarly journals SOMATIC EDUCATION AND THE UNDERGRADUATE DANCE STUDENT’S BODY IMAGE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 319
Author(s):  
Rita Rato ◽  
Maria João Alves
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Visual Image ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Body ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Dance Movement ◽  
Body Experience ◽  
Somatic Education ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
Teaching Learning

Regarding dance practitioners, body image associated with dance movement is a dynamic and complex phenomenon involving internal processes that cause impact on the psychological, emotional and behavioural areas. Balance between internal and external body experience is crucial for the construction of body image, and is associated with the way the student acquires knowledge about his own movement. In many contexts of dance teaching-learning, we found a focus centred almost exclusively on the reproduction of movement from the external visual image, in which body shapes and movement, should match an idealized model. Somatic education, on the other hand, is a disciplinary field that privileges the somatosensory experience of the body as a source of knowledge. Starting out from an experiential approach based on movement perception, we intended to study the body image of the dance student. For this purpose, we developed and applied a Somatic Movement (SM) program to a group of undergraduate dance students. We used a qualitative methodological design with multiple data collection approach methods, which included in-depth semi-structured interviews, explicitation interviews (Vermersch, 2003), participant journals and group discussions. Our primary purpose is not only to present, develop and substantiate the adopted methodological procedures but also to articulate them with the sub-questions of the study, which according to our point of view will contribute to a more categorical knowledge of how to investigate highly subjective concepts such as body experiences.

The Contributions of Interoceptive Awareness to Cognitive and Affective Facets of Body Experience

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Duschek ◽  
Natalie S. Werner ◽  
Gustavo A. Reyes del Paso ◽  
Rainer Schandry
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Interoceptive Awareness ◽  
Body Experience ◽  
Interindividual Differences ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Emotional Aspects ◽  
The Impact

Experience of one’s own body relies on signals arising within the body as well as on exteroceptive information, and on appraisal of cognitive and affective aspects of these signals. The present study investigated the impact of sensitivity to internal signals, that is, interoceptive awareness, on interindividual differences in cognitive and emotional aspects of body experience. Subjects with accurate (n = 30) versus poor (n = 30) interoceptive awareness, classified via a heartbeat perception task, completed the Body Consciousness Questionnaire and the Body Appraisal Inventory. Possible effects of emotional state on body experience were controlled for using measures of mood and anxiety. While the groups did not differ in their emotional state, individuals with accurate cardiac interoceptive awareness exhibited higher subjective sensitivity to bodily sensations and a more positive body image, characterized by stronger body-related self-confidence, greater satisfaction with physical appearance, greater perceived bodily self-control, as well as reduced hypochondriacal concerns, sexual discontent, and shame. The present findings extend earlier research on the importance of perception of physical cues for emotion, cognition, and behavior regulation. Our results underline the contribution of interoceptive information to body experience, where interindividual differences in the accessibility of such information modulate cognitive and affective facets of body image.

Episodic Depersonalization

1964 ◽  
Vol 110 (467) ◽  
pp. 505-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Davison
Keyword(s):  
Body Image ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
External Environment ◽  
The Body ◽  
Auditory Hallucinations ◽  
Perceptual Distortion ◽  
Cerebral Dysfunction ◽  
The Individual ◽  
As If

The constellation of symptoms which is termed depersonalization is often as perplexing to the doctor as to the patient. It is more easily diagnosed than defined, and much of the controversy over its nosological position can be attributed to this vagueness of outline. Saperstein (1949) reviewed the historical development of the concept and concluded that the essential feature is the experience of a sense of strangeness or unreality to the individual of his personality, his body or the external environment. Other symptoms of cerebral dysfunction, such as perceptual distortion of the body image, déjà vu experiences, olfactory and auditory hallucinations, metamorphopsia, autoscopy and a disordered time sense, are frequently, but not necessarily, associated (Antoni, 1946; Roth, 1959). The difficulty of expressing unusual subjective events in words gives rise to descriptions remarkable for their rich and often bizarre metaphor (e.g. Lewis, 1934; Bockner, 1949; Roth, 1959). Saperstein (1949) and Bird (1958) emphasize the “as if” qualification of these accounts, which distinguishes them from the delusional experiences of depression and schizophrenia.

scholarly journals Embodied time and the out-of-body experience of the self

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8565
Author(s):  
Sylvie Droit-Volet ◽  
Sophie Monceau ◽  
Michaël Dambrun ◽  
Natalia Martinelli
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Interval Duration ◽  
Body Experience ◽  
Out Of Body Experience ◽  
Time Distortion ◽  
Body Self ◽  
The Individual

Using an out-of-body paradigm, the present study provided further empirical evidence for the theory of embodied time by suggesting that the body-self plays a key role in time judgments. Looking through virtual reality glasses, the participants saw the arm of a mannequin instead of their own arm. They had to judge the duration of the interval between two (perceived) touches applied to the mannequin’s body after a series of strokes had been viewed being made to the mannequin and tactile strokes had been administered to the participants themselves. These strokes were administered either synchronously or asynchronously. During the interval, a pleasant (touch with a soft paintbrush) or an unpleasant stimulation (touch with a pointed knife) was applied to the mannequin. The results showed that the participants felt the perceived tactile stimulations in their own bodies more strongly after the synchronous than the asynchronous stroking condition, a finding which is consistent with the out-of-body illusion. In addition, the interval duration was judged longer in the synchronous than in the asynchronous condition. This time distortion increased the greater the individual out-of-body experience was. Our results therefore highlight the importance of the awareness of the body-self in the processing of time, i.e., the significance of embodied time.

scholarly journals Virtual Reality and Body Experience: a New Approach to the Treatment of Eating Disorders

1996 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-31
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Riva
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Body Image ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
The Body ◽  
Behavioral Approach ◽  
Body Experience ◽  
Cognitive Representations ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment

Eating Disorders, one of the most common pathologies of the occidental society, have long been associated with alterations in the perceptual/cognitive representations of the body. In fact, a large number of studies have highlighted the fact that the perception of one's own body and the experiences associated with it represent one of the key problems of anorexic, bulimic and obese subjects. The effects have a strong influence on therapy effects: severe body representation disturbance is predictive of treatment failure. However, the treatment of body experience problems is not well defined. Two methods are currently in use: the first is a cognitive/behavioral approach aimed at influencing patients' feelings of dissatisfaction; the second is a visual/motorial approach with the aim of influencing the level of bodily awareness. The Virtual Environment for Body Image Modification (VEBIM), a set of tasks aimed at treating body image, tries to integrate these two therapeutic approaches within an immersive virtual environment. This choice not only makes it possible to intervene simultaneously on all of the forms of bodily representations, but it also uses the psycho-physiological effectsprovoked on the body by the virtual experience for therapeutic purposes. This paper describes the VEBIM theoretical approach and its characteristics. It also presents a study on a preliminary sample (60 normal subjects) to test the efficacy of this approach.

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