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| Author(s): |
Thais Fonseca de Andrade
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | Ribeirão Preto. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC) |
| Defense date: | 2008-07-10 |
| Examining board members: |
Manoel Antonio dos Santos;
Antonio dos Santos Andrade;
Ivonise Fernandes da Motta
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| Advisor: | Manoel Antonio dos Santos |
| Abstract | |
Literature shows that cases of males with eating disorders are in less incidence than females and that until the eighties issues related to body and body image were seen as a female concern. However, current studies present that males are also suffering due to worries regarding corporeity and it reflects on the eating habits, on the practice of physical exercises and on diet habits. In spite of it, clinical cases of males who develop anorexia and/or bulimia nervosa still are scarcely known and have an enormous diagnostic complexity. The aim of this study was to investigate the singular way of how males with eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa) experience body and body image and how family and health professionals perceive the troubles of these males with regards to their corporeity, intending to understand this singularity and its influence in the development of an eating disorder and in the treatment. It is a qualitative, exploratory research, carried out according to the case study methodology. This study comprehends 3 cases and the population of each case is composed by: patient and his respective family (who have followed the patient throughout the illness and treatment) and health professionals (responsible for the assistance to the patient: nutritionist, psychologist, psychiatrist, nutrologist). It was carried out in the eating disorders service of the Hospital das Clínicas da FMRP-USP (Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto - Universidade de São Paulo - USP). The data was collected from 3 sources: (1) consultation to the medical reports of the patients, in order to obtain clinical and socio - demographic information, (2) individual interview with the participants (patients, family and professionals), (3) diary (where I wrote feelings and impressions I had throughout the research process and interviews). Firstly each case was analyzed separately; the interviews were transcribed literarily and submitted for theme-based content analysis. After that, the data collected from the interviews, medical reports and diary were interpreted mainly according to the psychoanalytic approach of Winnicott. The results of the analysis of the cases suggested that these males were not able to deal with primitive emotions inside themselves and consequently, not able to develop the skill to think about them and elaborate these emotions, expanding these unthinkable feelings to their body. In this manner these males use their body as a fort to protect them from overwhelming feelings such as invasion, abandonment and solitude. (FAPESP). (AU) | |