Subjective experiences of body symptoms: Process oriente dunfolding, perspectives and meaningfulness:
Objectives: This practically orientated, phenomenological study seeks to access body symptoms as they are subjectively experienced. The main questions addressed are: How do people describe their own subjective experience of body symptoms? If people are supported to give these subjective experiences of body symptoms more space and attention, do questions as to their "meaningfulness" or whether they "made sense" arise as central themes? Does this process change the perspective from which they perceive their symptoms?
Methods: To answer these questions, a sample of 20 female adolescents (state high school students) was surveyed. Problem-centred interviews were used to research the "lived experience", the phenomenological, experience-oriented description of body symptoms. Deeper access was attained using methods adapted from Process Work of Mindell. Data was collected using guided interviews and subjects' drawings together with questionnaires regarding socio-demographic and personality charactersitics including the SOC-L9.
Restults: From the interveiw transcripts and the subjetcs' drawings, it was shown that a significant number of the research subjects demonstrated a more differentiated awareness of their samptoms and broadened perspectives as a result of the intervention More differentiated awareness appeared as subjects described their subjective experience of symptoms as "relating to circumstances" and "benefit finding". The latter was mentioned always in the context of an extension of the known identity or self-description.
In the category broadened persectives, the main themes were "changes in behaviour", "familiarity", "wholeness" and "regaining control". The marked decrease in threatening or conflicting elements in the sketches drawn after successful interventions demonstrates an increasingly positive attitude towards the described symptom.
Conclusions: The results indicate that, through the described short interventions, the process oriented approach can change the subjective experience of otherwise agonising symptoms promoting a resource-oriented strategy. For further development and implementation of the approach, follow-up studies with different age groups and with male research subjects should be considered
