Analyzing the identity reconstruction process of a person with an acquired body dysfunction

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to identify how the emergence of a permanent body dysfunction causes significant transformations in the self-perception of a person who previously had full control over their body. In this article, Iattempt to present an existing parallel between a body crisis caused by the loss of its full capacity and a crisis on the identity level. At the same time, I try to highlight that acquiring a body dysfunction contributes to changes in self-perception, leading to the disorganization of the existential order and a destabilization of an individual’s self-definition. Therefore, the text will include an analysis of the objective determinants of a person’s own body perception in the categories of inadequacy as well as its social consequences. In this article, I adopt symbolic interactionism and Goffman’s stigmatization theory as cognitive perspectives, rooted in the interpretative paradigm. The above-mentioned theoretical references, constitute the foundation of this paper.. The research material adopted in this work is composed of personal experiences from people who lost physical abilities due to various random events. Unstructured interviews were conducted with members of this group of people. Analysis and interpretation of the research material are performed in accordance with the procedures of grounded theory.