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Body image is a term which may refer to the perceptions of a human's own physical appearance, or the internal sense of having a body which is interpreted by the brain. In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. Variations in the physical appearance of humans, known as human looks, are believed by Anthropologists to be an important factor in the development of personality and Essentially a person's body image is how they perceive their exterior to look, and in many cases this can be dramatically different from how they actually appear to others.

Contents

History

From the point of view of psychoanalysis, the French child psychoanalyst Francoise Dolto has developed a theory concerning the unconscious body image. Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior Françoise Dolto (1908–1988 was a French doctor and Psychoanalyst, famous for her research on babies and Childhood. [1] Negative feelings towards a person's body can in some cases lead to mental disorders such as depression or eating disorders, though there can be a variety of different reasons why these disorders can occur. Major depressive disorder, also known as major depression, unipolar depression, unipolar disorder, clinical depression, or simply depression An eating disorder is a compulsion to eat or avoid eating that negatively affects both one's physical and mental health

Within the media industry there have recently been popular debates focusing on how Size Zero models can negatively influence young people into feeling insecure about their own body image. "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" Size 0 is a women's clothing size in the US catalog sizes system believed to be equivalent to a UK size 4 or a Europe size 30 It has been suggested that size zero models be banned from cat walks. Many celebrities are targeted by the media due to their often drastic weight loss and slender frames, examples of such personalities would be member of the Spice Girls and wife of L. The Spice Girls are a BRIT Award -winning English pop Girl group formed in 1994 A Galaxy soccer player David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, famous socialite and daughter of Lionel Richie, Nicole Richie and British Super Model Kate Moss. David Robert Joseph Beckham, and is also a member of the England national team. Victoria Caroline Beckham (née Adams; born 17 April 1974 is an English pop Singer, Songwriter, Dancer turned Fashion A socialite is a person who is known to be a part of fashionable Society because of his or her regular participation in social activities and fondness for spending a significant Lionel Brockman Richie Jr (born June 20 1949 is an Academy Award and Grammy award-winning American Singer, Songwriter, Nicole Camille Richie (born September 21, 1981) is an American Actress, Author, Celebutante, and an aspiring Singer Kate Moss (born January 16 1974) is an English model who has appeared on over 300 magazine covers. Some examples of celebrity men targeted in a similar fashion can be found, but the media seem to focus principally on the effect that the Size Zero phenomenon has on young women. Media however, is generally quick to denounce celebrities endorsing fad diets, including popstars who describe girls who are not under a peer pressurized size, a "social suicide"[2]. Peer Pressure is a term describing the pressure exerted by a Peer group in encouraging a person to change their Attitude, Behavior and/or Morals Definition In the absence of agreement about its meaning the term "social" is used in many different senses referring among other things to attitudes

Body image is often measured by asking the subject to rate their current and ideal body shape using a series of depictions. The difference between these two values is the amount of body dissatisfaction. Monteath and McCabe found that 44%[3] of women express negative feelings about both individual body parts and their bodies as a whole. Psychology Today found that 56% of the women and about 40% of the men who responded to their survey in 1997 were dissatisfied with their overall appearance. Psychology Today is a bi-monthly magazine published in the United States. [4]

The desire to lose weight is highly correlated with poor body image, which typically means that more women have a poor body image than men. Susan Kashubeck-West, Laurie B. Mintz, and Ingrid Weigold report that the sex differences in body image disappear when we consider only those people who are trying to lose weight. [5]

Our life orientation also shapes how we feel about our bodies. Women who self-identify as feminists view their body more positively than those who do not consider themselves feminists, even though there was no difference between the groups in average body weight. [6] Exercise habits, sexual experiences, and mood also influence the feelings people have toward their bodies.

Men's body image is a topic of increasing interest in both academic articles and in the popular press. Current research indicates many men wish to become more muscular than they currently perceive themselves to be, often desiring up to 26 pounds of additional muscle mass. [7]

The desire for additional muscle has been linked to many men's concepts about masculinity. A variety of research has indicated a relationship between men's endorsement of traditionally masculine ideas and characteristics, and his desire for additional muscle[8]. Some research has suggested this relationship between muscle and masculinity may begin early in life, as boys' action figures are often depicted as super-muscular, often beyond the actual limits of human physiology. [9]

This desire for additional muscle has been given various nicknames, including "The Adonis Complex", "Bigorexia", "Reverse Anorexia", and "Muscle dysmorphia". Adonis (Άδωνης also Άδωνις is a figure of West Semitic origin where he is a central cult figure in various Mystery religions, who enters Anorexia Nervosa is a psychiatric Diagnosis that describes an Eating disorder characterized by low Body weight and Body image distortion Muscle dysmorphia is a disorder in which a person becomes obsessed with the idea that he or she is not Muscular enough Muscle dissatisfaction has been linked to low self esteem,[10] personality disorder [11] and is related to the use of muscle-building supplements and anabolic steroids. In Psychology, self-esteem reflects a Person 's overall evaluation or appraisal of her or his own worth Anabolic steroids, or anabolic-androgenic steroids ( AAS) are a class of Steroid hormones related to the hormone Testosterone. [12] [13] As such, men's body image dissatisfaction represents a substantial concern to public health researchers.

Body Image and the Brain

Definition and Origin

According to Vilayanur S. Ramachandran of the University of California, San Diego, the nature of self has five defining characteristics. Vilayanur S "Rama" Ramachandran is a neurologist best known for his work in the fields of Behavioral neurology and Psychophysics. One of them is the sense of embodiment and ownership of a body. Although we do in fact have a body, the brain is responsible for the construction of a "body-image," a term introduced in the writings of neurologist Henry Head. Sir Henry Head ( August 4 1861 - October 8 1940) was an English Neurologist who conducted pioneering work into the Your sense of having a body involves the visual system, the vestibular system, and proprioception: the sense of body position and movement (a term coined by Charles Scott Sherrington in his published work entitled, The Integrated Action of the Nervous System. The visual system is the part of the Nervous system which allows organisms to see. The vestibular system, which is a contributor to our balance system and our sense of spatial orientation is the sensory system that provides the dominant input about movement and Proprioception (ˌproʊpriːəˈsɛpʃən PRO -pree-o-SEP-shun from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception is the Sense Sir Charles Scott Sherrington OM, GBE, PRS ( November 27, 1857 - March 4, 1952) was an English neurophysiologist ) Proprioception correlates with dynamic body maps in the somatosensory, motor, and parietal cortices. Most notable is the primary somatosensory receiving area (S1) in the somatosensory cortex, where the sensory homunculus or "little man" resides. The concept of a homunculus ( Latin for "little man" plural "homunculi" the diminutive of homo, "man" is often used to illustrate The neurons in this region are responsible for cutaneous (skin), visceral (organ), and proprioceptive sensation, as they fire to represent each part of your body (from the genitalia to the internal organs) with the help of sensory input that travels from peripheral nerves, through the spinal cord, and into the brain.

Neurological Phenomenon

Ablation of those sensory nerves that carry sensory input from proprioceptors to the brain, results in a loss of proprioception. A person may experience such a loss in certain limbs, or throughout their entire body. In Oliver Sacks book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, he describes a patient named Christina who suffered from a selective neuritis—an infection in her spinal fluid that disconnected her entire body from the parietal cortices in her brain, causing a total loss of proprioception and therefore a sense of disembodiment. Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE (born July 9, 1933, London is a British Neurologist residing in the United States who has written popular books about The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is a 1985 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks describing the case histories of some of his patients Proprioception (ˌproʊpriːəˈsɛpʃən PRO -pree-o-SEP-shun from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception is the Sense Christina would flail and overshoot her limbs. Her body flopped around like a rag doll. Standing or sitting straight was nearly impossible for her.

Many amputees who have lost limbs continue to sense the presence of them as the body-image remains intact. Even those born without arms or legs can experience such phantoms. Often, the presence of these phantoms are so convincing that patients may attempt to step out of bed onto phantom legs or feet, or attempt to pick up cups with a phantom hand (Ronald Melzack, 1992-2006).

A phantom limb is integral to wearing a prosthetic, in which the phantom fits like a glove. A phantom limb is the sensation that an amputated or missing limb (even an organ like the appendix is still attached to the body and is moving appropriately The body-image of the missing limb must be present, otherwise a prosthetic cannot be used effectively.

There are many types of phantoms. Some are paralyzed; frozen in unusual positions. Many phantoms are like photocopies; exact replicas of the missing limbs. Others are grossly distorted and disproportioned. They may even be disconnected from the rest of the body and dangle in mid-air. Some disappear, only to be resurrected decades later. Interestingly, a woman may have a phantom penis with phantom erections. While the overall sex of a human being is determined by DNA, it is possible that the sex of the brain itself is determined by the hormones an embryo is exposed to while in the womb. Nonetheless, a man may have a female brain, and a woman may have a male brain. This phenomenon may explain transsexualism. Transsexualism is a condition in which a person identifies with a physical Sex different from the one with which they were born

The somatosensory system has been known to be involved in phantom limb syndrome. According to V. S. Ramachandran, motor signals contribute to phantom limb phenomenon as well. The motor cortex is primarily responsible for voluntary movement. But when motor signals are sent to muscles, a duplicate signal is sent to the parietal lobes as well in a feedback loop, thereby eliciting a sense of proprioception in the missing limbs.

The body-image also emerges from the convergence of multiple senses (i. e. proprioception and vision) in the angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus. The angular gyrus is a region of the Brain in the Parietal lobe, that lies near the superior edge of the Temporal lobe, and immediately posterior to the [14] The body-image can detach from the physical body, and take on a phantom existence of its own. Note that electrical stimulation of the angular gyrus causes an out-of-body experience, a decoupling of vision and proprioceptive sensory experience.

Also, some patients with anosognosia, usually left-side hemiplegics who have suffered from a stroke, experience a disassociation with their paralyzed limbs. Anosognosia is a condition in which a person who suffers Disability due to Brain injury seems unaware of or denies the existence of his or her handicap Some may be convinced that their paralyzed leg for example, is not really theirs—perhaps the leg of a stranger. They will assert that their real leg has disappeared, and in this conclusion, attempt to shove or kick their own leg out of bed. This kind of anosognosia involves lesions on the right side of the brain—notably the somatosensory and parietal cortices.

Obesity a brain disorder?

There have been a lot of suggestions and treatments to prevent obesity, but it seems like the scale is still going up. In the article Issue for DSM- V: Should Obesity Be Included as a Brain Disorder by Nora Volkow and Charles O’ Brien the author challenge the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in whether obesity should be included in DSM V. They argue that “DSM- IV recognizes eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia as mental disorders with severe impairments and serious adverse outcomes, but does not recognize obesity despite its devastating medical and psychological consequences. Obesity characterized by compulsive consumption of food and the inability to restrain from eating despite the desire to do so. These symptoms are remarkably parallel to those described in DSM IV for substance abuse and drug dependence, which has led some to suggest that obesity may be considered “food addiction. ”

For comparison of obesity and other mental disorder click the following link [1] [2]

[15]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Francoise Dolto, L'image inconscient du corps. NOTICE TO WOULD-BE-ROMEOS*************** A mirror box is a box with two mirrors in the center (one facing each way invented by Vilayanur S Naturism or nudism is a cultural and Political movement advocating and defending social Nudity in private and in public. The Pinocchio illusion is an Illusion that ones Nose is growing longer as happened to the literary character Pinocchio when he told a lie A person's self image is the mental picture generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change that depicts not only details that are potentially available to objective The self is a key construct in several schools of Psychology, broadly referring to the cognitive representation of one's identity Scars (also called cicatrices) are areas of fibrous tissue that replace normal Skin (or other tissue after injury A deformity, dysmorphism, or dysmorphic feature is a major difference in the shape of the body a body part or a body organ (internal or external compared to Paris: Seuil, 1984.
  2. ^ http://www.pr-inside.com/online-audition-website-peaks-traffic-r570495.htm
  3. ^ The influence of societal factors on female body image. J Soc Psychol. 1997 Dec;137(6):708-27
  4. ^ Psychology Today: Body Image Poll Results
  5. ^ Separating the effects of sex and weight-loss desire on body satisfaction
  6. ^ Psychology Today: Body Image Poll Results
  7. ^ Pope, Phillips, & Olivardia 2000
  8. ^ McCreary, Saucier, &Courtenay 2005; Kimmel & Mahalik, 2004
  9. ^ Pope, et al. 1999
  10. ^ Olivardia, et al. 2004
  11. ^ Davis, Karvinen, & McCreary, 2005
  12. ^ Olivardia, et al. 2004
  13. ^ Ridgeway & Tylka 2004
  14. ^ Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, 2007
  15. ^ Issue for DSM V: Should Obesity Be Included as Brain disorder?

Sources

Dictionary

body image

-noun

  1. The subjective inner picture of one's outward physical appearance.
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