The Importance of Body Image in Clinical Practice

Abstract

The concept of body image has been applied in various disciplines, including neurology, clinical psychology, psychopathology, behavioral science, and nursing (Cash, 2004; Rhoten, 2017). Meleau-Ponty (1962) identified the body as the subject of perception and considered the body not as an object but as an embodied subject that lives in the world. "Body image" refers to an individual's body, which generates a sensory message through contact with the environment during internal physiological operations and establishes a preliminary mental understanding of the body (Schilder, 1970). Body image is also affected by the external environment. As Plato remarked, "We are bound to our bodies like an oyster is to its shell." Indeed, our life experiences are integrally influenced by the body we happen to live in (Cash, 2004). Because body image is formed primarily by individuals interacting with others, Schilder (1970) called body image a social entity. People desire to keep their body image intact and unaffected by changes, damage, or losses in terms of function or body parts. Any change is perceived as a threat and thus induces anxiety and fear (Rochlin, 1973). In caring for a patient facing body-image changes, a nurse may help the patient using her in-depth knowledge of the potential impacts of this change on the body, mind, social relationships, bodily functions, self-concept, and self-esteem (Roberts, 1978). Under what circumstances do individuals experience body image change? The most common clinical conditions of body image change are: perceiving sensational change (physical discomfort/signs and symptoms), receiving medical treatments/procedures (receiving blood transfusions, injections, punctures), receiving nursing interventions/ procedures (enema, urethral catheterization) pain, taking medications (moon face), experiencing amputation/dysfunction or alteration/disfigurement, becoming pregnant or undergoing labor, acquiring physical diseases or injuries (cancer, HIV/AIDS, skin diseases, burns), and experiencing role failure (Cash, 2004; Rhoten, 2017; Roberts, 1978). Therefore, when a patient complains to a nurse about physical discomforts, it is necessary to understand that the patient is experiencing body image change and will benefit from timely and effective assistance to overcome and accept this change. Body image change is an important issue that should continue to be better understood and addressed in the field of nursing. This article provides a rich account of body image discourse that may be used as a reference in clinical nursing care, education, and research.