Duelo del cuerpo anterior en adolescentes con cáncer: efectos subjetivos en la imagen corporal durante la hospitalización pediátrica.

Abstract

The present study addressed the grief associated with the previous body in adolescents with cancer and its subjective effects on body image during pediatric hospitalization. Its importance lay in the fact that, in addition to the changes inherent to adolescence, the oncological disease and its treatments produced effects that influenced the adolescent’s relationship with their body. Therefore, the study was able to provide important elements for working with adolescent cancer patients. The study aimed to analyze how grief for the previous body affected the subjective effects of body image, with the purpose of understanding the subject’s subjective experience following the onset of cancer and addressing possible interventions in clinical practice. A qualitative approach was employed using a descriptive method; likewise, the study included a literature review and documentary analysis, taking as its population the adolescent characters Akkie, from Cool Kids Don’t Cry, and Sebastián, from Pulseras Rojas. The results showed that the bodily transformations associated with cancer produced a rupture with the previously familiar body, generating effects such as shame, fear, and concern regarding the gaze of the Other, among others. It was concluded that adolescent cancer patients underwent a process of subjective reworking that affected not only body image, but also their identifications and their position toward themselves and toward the Other.