The body as image: image as body

Pain consultations are often contested spaces where patient and clinician compete for the roles of speaker. Often patients are searching for mechanical explanations and clinicians for psychological ones - creating an impasse and causing distress to both parties. Meanwhile, as technology advances and we have increasing means of seeing inside a person’s body we seem to have less and less ability to see inside another’s world – to understand what it means to live with pain, the significance of that pain for that individual in their social context. In this paper we explore the potential for images of pain, co-created with patients, to intervene in this unproductive patient dynamic and bring the full experience of pain - social, emotional, physical - into focus. Narrative analysis is used on a series of transcripts of pain consultations

Body and Self-Image

After interviewing my three respondents and after analyzing their interview data to find an issue to compare and contrast between the three, it was very apparent that all three of them have had very different, yet interesting experiences regarding their body and self image, and much of these experiences have resulted from the country they grew up in and the culture that surrounded them. In my paper, I will firstly introduce my respondents and give a brief description of their experience with body and self image. I will then compare and contrast their experiences, and attempt to analyze how they vary based on the impact of culture and the different countries they grew up in

Implicit measures of actual versus ideal body image : relations with self-reported body dissatisfaction and dieting behaviors

Body dissatisfaction refers to a negative appreciation of one’s own body stemming from a discrepancy between how one perceives his/her body (actual body image) and how he/she wants it to be (ideal body image). To circumvent the limitations of self-report measures of body image, measures were developed that allow for a distinction between actual and ideal body image at the implicit level. The first goal of the present study was to investigate whether self-reported body dissatisfaction is related to implicit measures of actual and ideal body image as captured by the Relational Responding Task (RRT). Secondly, we examined whether these RRT measures were related to several indices of dieting behavior. Women high in body dissatisfaction (n = 30) were characterized by relatively strong implicit I-am-fat beliefs, whereas their implicit I-want-to-be-thinner beliefs were similar to individuals low in body dissatisfaction (n = 37). Implicit body image beliefs showed no added value over explicit body image beliefs in predicting body dissatisfaction and dieting behavior. These findings support the idea that the interplay between ideal and actual body image drives (self-reported) body dissatisfaction. However, strong support for the view that it would be critical to differentiate between explicit and implicit body image beliefs is missing

Implicit body representations and the conscious body image

Recent studies have revealed that somatosensory processing relies on a class of implicit body representations showing large distortions of size and shape. The relation between these representations and the conscious body image remains unclear. Dissociations have been reported in the clinical literature on eating disorders between different body image measures, with larger and more consistent distortions found with depictive measures, in which participants compare their body to a visual depiction of a body, than metric measures, in which participants compare their body to some non-body standard. Here, we compared implicit body representations underlying position sense to the body image measured with both depictive and metric methods. The body image was measured using both a depictive method (template matching) in which participants judged whether their hand was wider or more slender than a shown hand picture, and a metric method (line length) in which participants judged whether different parts of the their hand were shorter or longer than a presented line. Consistent with previous findings, characteristic distortions were found for the implicit body representation underlying position sense. These distortions were also found in attenuated form for metric – but not depictive – body image measures. While replicating the basic dissociation between implicit body representations and the conscious body image, these results demonstrate that this dissociation is not absolute and specific tasks may utilise both to varying degrees depending on task demands. Metric measures may not be pure measures of body image, but some combination of visual and somatosensory body representations

Teacher's Book for Body Image

This is the teacher's book that accompanies the Body Image unit.\ud \ud There are the answers to the activites, as well as a rationale and suggestions for classroom activities

Body image distortions following spinal cord injury

Background: Following spinal cord injury (SCI) or anaesthesia, people may continue to experience feelings of the size, shape, and posture of their body, suggesting that the conscious body image is not fully determined by immediate sensory signals. How this body image is affected by changes in sensory inputs from, and motor outputs to the body remains unclear. Methods: We tested paraplegic and tetraplegic SCI patients on a task that yields quantitative measures of body image. Participants were presented with an anchoring stimulus on a computer screen and told to imagine that the displayed body part was part of a standing mirror image of themselves. They then identified the position on the screen, relative to the anchor, where each of several parts of their body would be located. Veridical body dimensions were identified based on measurements and photographs of participants. Results: Compared to age-matched controls, paraplegic and tetraplegic patients alike perceived their torso and limbs as elongated relative to their body width. No effects of lesion level were found. Conclusions: The common distortions in body image across patient groups, despite differing SCI levels, imply that a body image may be maintained despite chronic sensory and motor loss. Systematic alterations in body image follow SCI, though our results suggest these may reflect prolonged changes in body posture and wheelchair use, rather than loss of specific sensorimotor pathways. These findings provide new insight into how the body image is maintained, and may prove useful in treatments that intervene to manipulate the body image

The Relationship between Resilience and Body Image in College Women

Possessing a negative body image is associated with unhealthy eating habits and eating disorders in college women and has been linked to depression and negative feelings of self worth. Limited research exists on protective factors that have the potential to mitigate body image dissatisfaction. This paper examines the relationship of resilience to body image dissatisfaction in college women. Female, undergraduate college students were studied using previously validated measures. Results indicate that increased resilience is associated with improved body image

Healthy lifestyles and body mass index as correlates of body image in primary schoolchildren

Background: Body image is a representation of the self that develops from an early age. Such representations are likely to be associated with lifestyle choices.Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between health behaviours (i.e., physical activity, screen time and adherence to the Mediterranean diet), body mass index (BMI) and body image dissatisfaction among primary schoolchildren.Methods: A total of 782 pupils (age 7.92 ± 1.36 years), 405 boys (age 8.01 ± 1.38 years) and 377 girls (age 7.95 ± 1.33 years) from the Southeast region of Portugal, answered a survey containing the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED) to measure eating patterns and gender congruent Figure Rating Scales to measure body image dissatisfaction. Children also had their weight and height measured to calculate BMI. Based on the Krece Plus quick test, parents reported on children's physical activity and screen time.Results: Girls reported being less active, t(619) = 2.29, p = .022, d = 0.19; adhering more to the Mediterranean diet, t(775) = -3.92, p < .001, d = -0.29; and having higher body image dissatisfaction than boys, t(773) = -2.53, p = .012, d = -0.19. There was a significant association between BMI and body image dissatisfaction, χ2(4) = 79.34, p < .001. Moreover, 22.5% of the children with normal BMI perceived being overweight/obese. Gender (β = 0.085, p = .036) and BMI (β = 0.40, p < .001), but not lifestyle variables, predicted body image dissatisfaction (R2 = .173).Conclusions: Physical activity, screen time, and adherence to a Mediterranean diet were not associated with body image dissatisfaction. However, BMI was positively associated with body image dissatisfaction. Children are not accurate in estimating their body size which can lead to body image dissatisfaction and attempts to control body weight

A meta-analytic review of stand-alone interventions to improve body image

Objective Numerous stand-alone interventions to improve body image have been developed. The present review used meta-analysis to estimate the effectiveness of such interventions, and to identify the specific change techniques that lead to improvement in body image. Methods The inclusion criteria were that (a) the intervention was stand-alone (i.e., solely focused on improving body image), (b) a control group was used, (c) participants were randomly assigned to conditions, and (d) at least one pretest and one posttest measure of body image was taken. Effect sizes were meta-analysed and moderator analyses were conducted. A taxonomy of 48 change techniques used in interventions targeted at body image was developed; all interventions were coded using this taxonomy. Results The literature search identified 62 tests of interventions (N = 3,846). Interventions produced a small-to-medium improvement in body image (d+ = 0.38), a small-to-medium reduction in beauty ideal internalisation (d+ = -0.37), and a large reduction in social comparison tendencies (d+ = -0.72). However, the effect size for body image was inflated by bias both within and across studies, and was reliable but of small magnitude once corrections for bias were applied. Effect sizes for the other outcomes were no longer reliable once corrections for bias were applied. Several features of the sample, intervention, and methodology moderated intervention effects. Twelve change techniques were associated with improvements in body image, and three techniques were contra-indicated. Conclusions The findings show that interventions engender only small improvements in body image, and underline the need for large-scale, high-quality trials in this area. The review identifies effective techniques that could be deployed in future interventions