How to address the body after breast cancer? A proposal for a psychological intervention focused on body compassion

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Valeria Sebri¹  Ilaria Durosini¹  Gabriella Pravettoni¹ 

[1] Applied Research Division for Cognitive and Psychological Science, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS;Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan

关键词: breast cancer;    self;    body image;    injured self;    Body compassion;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1085837

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Because of breast cancer treatment sexuality and intimate relationships can become difficult (Bishop, 2015), impacting the couple's life. Changes in the body and in the evaluation of women femininity allows for a perception of sexual unattractiveness (Sebri et al., 2021b). Moreover, oncological treatments can lead to the fear of losing fertility, which may impact monogamous relationships. Women rely on their partner to perform crucial roles of providing emotional support, managing finance, and making decisions, which can lead to high levels of distress (Akpor et al., 2022). Despite this, the partner is essential in the promotion the survivor's wellbeing, which serves to support the couple throughout the cancer journey. Literature shows the relevance of supporting marital adjustment to avoid excessive distress and anxiety (Suo et al., 2022) and strongly reduce negative BI (Akpor et al., 2022). BI impairments can also affect social relationships. Specifically, a negative BI may lead women to constantly scrutinize their body with the fear of being different from cultural stereotypes through the development of negative emotions (Sherman et al., 2018; Triberti et al., 2019). In line with the Self Discrepancy Theory by Higgins (1987), the higher the discrepancy between “whom they perceive to be” and “whom they would like to be,” the higher psychopathological outcomes and emotional issues could be observed. In this regard, impairments in emotional regulation can be observed in young women with a history of breast cancer especially (Miyashita et al., 2015). After oncological treatments, the risk of incurring premature menopause and consequently to the risk of infertility can change the perception of body and femininity, in particular for young women (Camp-Sorrell, 2009). Moreover, young women could experience the difficulty in managing their fear of not seeing their child/children grow up (Miyashita et al., 2015).

【 授权许可】

CC BY