Hypermodern Hearts: What Makes Them Suffer and Become Ill?

Suzana De A Paiva,Francisco Silveira,Carmen Silvia P Lima,Joel S Giglio

doi:10.4236/ojmp.2015.43007

Suzana De A Paiva, Francisco Silveira + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.4236/ojmp.2015.43007

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Abstract

In this research, we highlight the hypermodern individual, the ways he lives in the contemporary world and the psychosocial determinants involved in illness. We aim to reveal the impact of traumatic life events and the senses and meanings given by the patients to their pathologies. The research was carried out at two private hospitals in Brazil, in the years 2010 and 2011. The study is based on a qualitative method, through a semistructured interview with open-ended questions and the drawings-stories procedure, in an intentional sample, closed by saturation, during the period of hospitalization and right after leaving hospital (15 to 30 days). We used a qualitative content analysis and analysis of drawings under the framework of Analytical Psychology. Seven female patients that underwent surgery were the subjects of this research: two with Myocardial Infarction, one with Takotsubo Syndrome, three with Breast Cancer and one with both pathologies. Through the analysis of the interviews and the symbols presented in the drawings, we observed demands for hyperformance and hyperfection, linked with illness, when in excess. Traumatic life events, job stress, reactions to loss, and death of loved ones without the possibility of psychological elaboration may cause fragility and a lowering of the capacity of the immune system to react, causing damage to health. Through the symbolic trajectory of life, spontaneously presented in the drawings, we observed the three types of thinking in the structure of the psiqué which formed the basis for mental equilibrium: rational, symbolic and mythological. Infarction and breast cancer cause different impacts on women’s lives. Knowing how to deal with stressful events and being conscious of the meanings given to illness may contribute to making a better or worse experience in life. Such knowledge may be crucial for both primary and secondary prevention.

Highlights

The quest for knowledge, especially self-knowledge, is part of human history, as well as the search for health and, more recently, the valorization of the quality of life and the measures taken to ensure it, in an attempt to avoid illness, prolong life and lead a healthy life
In the panorama of hypermodernity, the offers, opportunities and competitive challenges show the hypermodern individual in limit situations and, in situations of illness
These manifestations are connected to stress, which is considered as a risk factor for the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and breast cancer (BC), as well as depression, and, smoking, hypertension, a sedentary life, obesity, negative emotions, psychosocial factors, etc. [5]-[14]

Summary

Introduction

The quest for knowledge, especially self-knowledge, is part of human history, as well as the search for health and, more recently, the valorization of the quality of life and the measures taken to ensure it, in an attempt to avoid illness, prolong life and lead a healthy life. The first phrase of the Delphi Oracle says: “Know thyself”, and the second warns: “But nothing in excess.” This is a very appropriate advice for the hypermodern age since, currently, individuals operating in the panorama of hypermodernity experience the “hyper” dimension, in the sense of excess, in several aspects of their life, almost in an imposed manner. Aubert [4] articulates one of the maxims of the hypermodern individual, which is living the most in an instant, in an attempt to evade death This author notes that death is always on the horizon, and that, currently, the intensity of the relationships lived in the present makes every moment seem to be like a little piece of eternity. These manifestations are connected to stress, which is considered as a risk factor for the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and breast cancer (BC), as well as depression, and, smoking, hypertension, a sedentary life, obesity, negative emotions, psychosocial factors, etc. [5]-[14]

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