Mental Self-image Research Articles

Answer to commentary – “The effect of cosmetic surgery on mental self-image and life satisfaction in women undergoing breast augmentation: An intermediate role of evaluating the surgery as one of the most important life events”

Answer to commentary – “The effect of cosmetic surgery on mental self-image and life satisfaction in women undergoing breast augmentation: An intermediate role of evaluating the surgery as one of the most important life events”

The effect of cosmetic surgery on mental self-image and life satisfaction in women undergoing breast augmentation: An intermediate role of evaluating the surgery as one of the most important life events

To estimate changes in self-perception and satisfaction in women undegoing breast augmentation surgery (BAS). Using a quasi-experimental questionnaire study design, we enrolled a cohort of BAS women treated at a private clinic during a 5-year interval. The primary predictor variable was treatment (before/after). The main outcome variables included effect of considering breast augmentation as one of the most important life events on self-image (BAOMILE), and subjective evaluation of physical appearance and life satisfaction. Other study variables were demographic data. The Mann-Whitney and the Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare the outcomes between before and after the surgery. The Spearman rank correlation and the Pearson chi-squared test were computed to analyze the relationships among variables. The sample consisted of 53 subjects (52.3% married; 40.9% from medium-sized towns) with a mean age of 33.2±6.4 years (range, 21-46). Life satisfaction was significantly increased after BAS in the whole cohort (preop., 7.83vs. postop., 8.42; P=.003; 95% CI, -0.95 to -0.22) as well as in the BAOMILE subgroup (preop., 7.87vs. postop., 8.56; P=.011; 95% CI, -1.20 to -0.17). Within the BAOMILE subgroup, there was a positive correlation between the appearance assessment and the number of positive traits before surgery (ρ=0.63; P=.002; 95% CI, 0.27-0.83) and life satisfaction after surgery (ρ=0.480; P=.03; 95% CI, 0.06-0.74). The results of this study suggest that BAS improves self-perception and life satisfaction of the patients. The psychologist's role in understating patient's motivation for cosmetic surgery and the revision of their attitudes towards expected effects require further investigations.

Self-reported body weight and weight-related stigmatization experiences among young adult women-two contexts, but similar attitudes related to body image, mental self-schemas, self-esteem, and stereotypes of people with obesity.

BackgroundWeight stigma is a serious challenge because of its negative impact on human health and harmful psychological and behavioral consequences. The aim of the study was to explore and compare the relationships between self-reported body weight and weight-related stigmatization experiences and body image, mental self-image, self-esteem, and stereotypes concerning people with obesity among young adult Polish women (N = 374; aged between 18 and 35).MethodsThe study was conducted online on a Polish sample recruited through a social network site, a website, and snowball sampling. Body mass index (BMI) was used to assign the respondents to groups with normal or excess weight. We tested whether women enrolled in the study experienced weight-related stigmatization using two questions based on the concepts of spoiled identity and related to the obesity stigma. The Contour Drawing Rating Scale was used to study different aspects of the body image and discrepancies between them. The Self-Discrepancy Questionnaire was used to study the self-schemas associated with mental qualities. The Polish version of the Rosenberg’s Self Esteem Scale was applied to determine self-esteem level. Stereotypes concerning people with obesity were studied using the semantic differential method.ResultsAlthough excess weight was associated with weight-related stigmatization experiences, many women reported confronting such stigmatization even though their body weight was normal according to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Women with excess weight and women with weight-related stigmatization experiences were characterized by larger discrepancies between the actual body image and the ideal, reflected, and ought body image, lower self-esteem, and more negative beliefs about their mental actual and reflected self compared to women with normal weight and without weight-related stigmatization experiences. The study participants from all groups tended to believe their actual body image to be ampler than the ideal and the ought body images. They also believed that other people perceived their mental qualities more positively than they did. The study groups were also characterized by negative stereotypes of people with obesity, although these stereotypes were more vital in women with excess weight and women who experienced weight-related stigmatization.ConclusionThe study shows the similarity between psychological functioning of women with self-reported excess weight and those who experience weight-related stigma. The results also provide guidelines for practical actions aimed at reducing negative mental outcomes associated with not conforming to body weight standards.

The self-concept in the stage of primary education: incidence in the most capable students

The new approaches in the field of high capacities, compared to the topic of considering only intelligence as a fundamental element in their identification, opt for a wide range of qualities and dimensions to be taken into account in detection. Among them, self-concept appears as the mental self-image of the subject. This construct and its relationship with other variables, such as the academic performance or the sex of schoolchildren, could be influential factors in the strikingly low figures for the diagnosis of students with high abilities and negative results in international performance evaluations. To verify the relationship between these variables, we conducted a quantitative research to evaluate the general and academic self-concept in a sample of 118 subjects of 4th, 5th and 6th grade of Primary Education, including school children with high diagnostic abilities. The Piers Harris Self-concept Scale has been used. The results show a positive correlation between general and academic self-concept and academic performance, not finding a relationship between self-concept and gender, high ability, age and course. In this way, specific actions should be favored, from the teaching and learning processes themselves, in favor of improving the students' self-concept, keeping in mind their academic performance. The welfare of schoolchildren should be a fundamental premise of the teaching practice.

Body’s Image Concerns And Its Impact On Academic Achievements

1.1. Introduction:Someone`s self-perception is somebody's very own mental representation or identity or as organized definitive learning about one's self that could manage the social conduct. Young people observed to be occupied with redesigning and figuring their mental self-image. Poor self-perception diminishes self-adequacy and self-regard which cause mutilation in scholarly accomplishment. 1.2. Method:An observational study was led utilizing online questionnaire, 160 college undergraduates from various health sciences disciplines were included including both male, and female subjects. Effect of mental self-perception on educational accomplishments was examined. 1.3. Results:Results revealed that, physical appearance or body image did affect academic achievement or scholastic accomplishment. Most of the undergraduate students showed concerns regarding self-image, they get distressed due to physical appearance, further, their physical appearance also interfere in getting education and performing daily tasks. It is also observed that students who are satisfied with their self-image obtained higher grades as compare to their counterparts. Students found to be involve in watching TV as well as reading beauty magazine which also influence their cognitive powers and hence change their self-regard. 1.4. Conclusion: Understanding of connections between a positive self-perception and academic achievement can influence programs that are offered at college and universities. This study could be useful to academic wellbeing instructors, faculty and student affairs professionals involved in students counseling and motivations. Further research is needed to explore the link between academic success and lack of society`s concern regarding idea about beauty in reality.

Effects of Psychotherapy on Patients Suffering from Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID)

People suffering from Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) feel the intense desire for a physical disability (e.g. amputation or palsy of a limb). The suffering is caused by a divergence between their intact real body and their desired mental self-image of a disabled person. Aim of this pilot-study was to answer the question, whether psychotherapy can help to prevent the desire for amputation or palsy. Methods: A questionnaire was developed to investigate experiences with psychotherapy in BIID-patients. These people were asked about the success of different psychological and psychopharmacological types of therapy. Respondents stated whether they experienced an increase or decrease of their desire for amputation or palsy due to the specific kind of therapy and to what extent their psychological strain had been changed after therapy. Results: BIID is a very rare disturbance; still 25 people were investigated in this study. 32% had psychopharmacological treatment, 24% had cognitive behavioral therapy, 20% psychodynamic therapy, 20% had trained a relaxation technique, 8% had counseling therapy and 4% had experiences with art- and body-centered exercise therapies. In contrast to our hypothesis, all therapy-methods tended to cause an increase of the desire for obtaining a disability. A higher number of therapy sessions was positively correlated with an increased desire for an amputation, paralysis or other disability. On the other hand, the psychological strain in relation to BIID was reduced by all types of therapies; the highest reduction could be reached with psychodynamic therapy. Conclusion: Psychotherapy can reduce the psychological strain in BIID affected persons. The fact that the desire to obtain a disability increases during the therapy is explained as a result of an intense exchange about BIID with the therapist.

Proprioception as a basis for individual differences

Definition of proprioceptionThe term was introduced by Sherrington (1906), although this basic feeling of ourselves had always been present. Proprioception, or the perception of body awareness, is a that people are frequently not aware of, but greatly rely upon. More easily demonstrated than explained, proprioception is the unconscious awareness of where the various regions of the body are located at any given time. For example, with closed eyes, we can say where our hands or legs are at this moment. Without proprioception we could not bring a spoon bearing soup into the mouth, ride a bicycle, or change the gears of a car without looking at our hands or feet.Proprioception as described by SechenovIn his 1863 work Refleksi golovnogo mozga [Reflexes of brain], the renowned Russian physiologist Sechenov called proprioception a dark muscle sense (Sechenov, 2013, originally published 1863), and described the role of that muscle in the training of vision, hearing and other senses, especially in his work Elements of Thoughts (Sechenov, 2013). He demonstrated that spatial vision is formed first of all with the help of proprioceptors of the eye muscles, and secondly, due to multiple evaluation and combination of distance by eyes or legs. As for distance measurements, we still conserve in some countries (related to the length of body parts) units like feet, inch, or old ones such as ell (originally a cubit, i.e., approximating to the length of a man's arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, or about 18 inches), dactilus or digit, and palm in ancient Greece.As Sechenov thought, the muscle is not only analysing components of space, but also of time: Near, far, height of subjects, their traces and velocities -- all are the products of the muscle sense... The same muscle sense, being partial (frac- tioned) in periodical movements, becomes a partial measurement instrument of space and time (Sechenov, 2013).Proprioception is tested by Russian neurologists when they ask patients to touch their nose with their finger or walk with their eyes closed along a straight line drawn on the floor. It is also checked by American police officers by having a suspect touch their nose with their finger, with eyes closed, to gauge alcohol intoxication: people with normal proprioception make an error of no more than twenty millimetres.Effects of alterations in proprioceptionWhen proprioception is altered, sensitive ataxia can take place, as in the clinical case described by Wingenshtein (Schmidt, 1984), when a patient after an operation had lost her proprioception and gradually forgot how to move or eat, and even stopped breathing. To remain functional, she would compensate for proprioceptive loss by other senses, principally by vision, as in the Ian Waterman case (BBC movie, 1998, The man who lost his body). If proprioceptive impairment takes place due to some body part being missing from one's mental self-image, we need to check it visually (to look down at our limbs, for example) or by touch (to pinch ourselves to feel this part); however, under a complete loss of proprioception in all or a part of body, we simply cannot feel it and may guide ourselves only visually, as in the Ian Waterman case. In order to learn to walk again, he used his eyes and needed to always look at his feet while moving (BBC documentary, 1998, The man who lost his body).Small proprioceptive alterations are felt when one catches cold or is simply tired. Under vibration or other external/internal stimuli (real and virtual) proprioceptive changes can appear, such as the Pinocchio effect (Kilteni, Normand, Sanchez-Vives, & Slater, 2012; Lackner, 1988) when body size perception is altered (perceived as too large or too small). To experience the Pinocchio Illusion, you need to apply a vibrator to the biceps tendon while one holding your nose with the ipsilateral hand. …

Group hypnotherapy versus group relaxation for smoking cessation: an RCT study protocol

BackgroundA significant number of smokers would like to stop smoking. Despite the demonstrated efficacy of pharmacological smoking cessation treatments, many smokers are unwilling to use them; however, they are inclined to try alternative methods. Hypnosis has a long-standing reputation in smoking cessation therapy, but its efficacy has not been scientifically proven. We designed this randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effects of group hypnosis as a method for smoking cessation, and we will compare the results of group hypnosis with group relaxation.Methods/DesignThis is a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to compare the efficacy of a single session of hypnosis with that of relaxation performed in groups of 8-15 smokers. We intend to include at least 220 participants in our trial. The inclusion criteria include smoking at least 5 cigarettes per day, not using other cessation methods and being willing to quit smoking. The intervention is performed by a trained hypnotist/relaxation therapist. Both groups first receive 40 min of mental preparation that is based on motivational interviewing. Then, a state of deep relaxation is induced in the hypnosis condition, and superficial relaxation is induced in the control condition. Suggestions are made in the hypnosis condition that aim to switch the mental self-image of the participants from that of smokers to that of non-smokers. Each intervention lasts for 40 min. The participants also complete questionnaires that assess their smoking status and symptoms of depression and anxiety at baseline, 2 weeks and 6 months post-intervention. In addition, saliva samples are collected to assess cotinine levels at baseline and at 6 months post-intervention. We also assess nicotine withdrawal symptoms at 2 weeks post-intervention.DiscussionTo the best of our knowledge, this RCT is the first to test the efficacy of group hypnosis versus group relaxation. Issues requiring discussion in the outcome paper include the lack of standardisation of hypnotic interventions in smoking cessation, the debriefing of the participants, the effects of group dynamics and the reasons for dropouts.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials, ISRCTN72839675.

See(k)ing the Self: Mirrors and Mirroring in Bicultural Texts

David Levinsky put on his new clothes, had the barber cut off his side-locks, his mentor remarked: Quite an American, isn't he? as he brought him to mirror. To quote Levinsky: When took look in the mirror was bewildered. scarcely recognized myself.... It was as though the haircut the American clothes had changed my (Cahan 101). It seems to me no coincidence that mirrors mirroring occur so often in texts written by bilingual, bicultural authors; that in work after work either the mirror surprises the one who looks into it, or an Other in some fashion mirrors the protagonist. Typically there is some discrepancy between the actual, surface, mirror image that any onlooker could see some sort of interior, mental self--whether wished-for, or felt, or despised--which prompts--or results from--the questions: who what am I? which is the real me? Admittedly, this phenomenon is not exclusive to bicultural texts any more than are the issues of identity formation conflict at the heart of the imagery. One remembers the in Jane Eyre's mirrors at those junctures in her life where she (like the bicultural protagonists) embarks on new life, perceives herself in new light or new role, for example when, in her wedding gown, she looks in the mirror sees a robed veiled figure so unlike [her] usual self that it seemed almost the image of stranger (362; See Siebenschuh 309, 313). Kathleen Woodward writes of the preponderance of mirror images in literary representations of the aged body, the horror at the recognition it forces on the one looking into the mirror (104).(1) She cites an example from footnote Freud appended to his essay, The Uncanny. While he was sitting in his compartment on train, the lavatory door swung open, and an elderly gentleman in dressing gown travelling cap came in. Freud jumped up to redirect the stranger, assuming he had come into the compartment by mistake. As he writes it: I at once realized to my dismay that the intruder was nothing but my own reflection in the looking-glass of the open door. ... thoroughly disliked his appearance (106). What these examples have in common with one another, with the examples find in bicultural texts, is that the view in/from the mirror dramatizes difference between mental self-image the external mirror image. Coincidental though it may be, the context of the journey is an appropriate frame for the mirror incident. Whether literal journey such as Freud's train trip, or the immigrant's crossing; or metaphorical one, as with Freud's new awareness of how far along in age he has come, or Jane's arriving at new station in life, or the immigrant's in becoming more like an American, the mirror can suddenly force the traveler to see how different he or she is from those others who seem so much at home. But more complicated is the strangeness one can feel when, looking in the mirror, one sees no discernable differentness from those around her, but rather from one's former image, from the people at her mother's dinner table--a difference more complex more conflicted than the first. For this reason the look into the mirror--indeed the very need to look into the mirror, to seek one's image--seems to assume greater urgency as well as clearer self-consciousness in bicultural texts where change difference is more obvious or more sudden, therefore more clearly dramatized, than in the conventional bildungsroman or metaphoric journey of progress through stages of life, maturation, self-realization. Whether sought or come upon accidentally, view in mirror is instantaneous, not gradual process over time; the unexpected difference reflected in the mirror, trope (as well as crucial incident) expressing identity disruption or formation. Levinsky's image was suddenly radically different; that difference, but the physical manifestation of suddenly, radically changed environment way of life; he had crossed to an unfamiliar place, become surrounded by an incomprehensible language, stripped of all former intimates or even nodding acquaintances. …