"I Have a Body Now" : A Body Image Multimodal Approach To A Patient Who Faces Body Image Disturbance: A Case Report

Isis Ferracini Gebara; Eliane Florencio Gama

doi:10.70205/jptmh.v1i1.8803

"I Have a Body Now" : A Body Image Multimodal Approach To A Patient Who Faces Body Image Disturbance

A Case Report

Authors

Isis Ferracini Gebara Physiotherapist at Isis Gebara Fisioterapia
Eliane Florencio Gama PhD, Adjunct Professor- Anatomy Descriptive and Topographical, Department of Morphology and Genetics and Post- Graduate Program in Structural and Functional Biology of the Paulista School of Medicine/ Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70205/jptmh.v1i1.8803

Keywords:

body image, physical therapy, body image disturbance, bariatric surgery, eating disorders

Abstract

Introduction: Body image (BI) is the representation of the body in mind. Body image disturbance (BID) is the misperception of body image. The present work is a case report of a physical therapy (PT) treatment elaborated for a woman who was diagnosed with BID. Objective: to analyze the effects of physical therapy in BID. Methods: Image Marking Procedure Test, Body Perception Index Calculation, Oral Interview and the drawing test were used to diagnose conscious and unconscious BID. After anamnesis, three months of PT were taken by PT sessions, where body perception was stimulated, by using tactical stimulation and instructions of body anatomy and physiology. Results: The patient was diagnosed with paraschematia and hiposchematia at the beginning of PT. After three months of therapy, her paraschematia was healed but hiposchematia remained. Conclusion: PT in BID affected positively body image. Nonetheless, since it is a case report, we cannot generalize the results.