Changes in self-perception following breast cancer as expressed in self-figure drawings: Present-past

Distinguishing change in self-perception by Self-Figure Drawings in Subjects Who Underwent Different Breast Cancer Treatments

“…But, to our knowledge , most studies that examined the distress and emotional consequences of the disease and the treatment of women with breast cancer, used only verbal tools (i.e., questionnaires) which are controlled by cognition, ignored internal differences due to different medical treatment the subject had undergone. An exception are our previous studies which used self-figure drawing as a projective tool [20,21] There, we found differences between the present self-figure drawing and that of the perceived-self pre-disease in regard to the following features: hair (short, shaggy); body outline (double, bold); eyes (hollow, shaded, dots); lower body (disconnected, unstable).…”

“…As presented in the research literature [ 20], the findings show a feeling of impaired femininity and/or loss of attractiveness that was expressed by the marked presence of signs of thinning hair in the present self-image drawings as compared to the past self-image drawings, in all subjects. Nevertheless, an internal examination done in the current study, showed that among the women who underwent chemo there is a greater difference than among women who did not.…”

“…The indices for which no difference was found between the drawings (body outline, eyes, lower body) did distinguish between self-perception in the present and in the past, prior to the illness in general, among women who had breast cancer, with no dependence on treatment in the previous study [20]. Hence it is likely that since these indices represent the general population, regardless of treatment received, no gaps in perception were found among the subjects who have had different types of treatments.…”

“…It is a line that defines the boundary between the body and the environment, with the goal of maintaining the unity of personality [28]. Bold or doubled outline was found to distinguish between past and present self-image drawings, done by breast cancer survivors: in present drawings they were bold and/or double outlined, as compared to self-image drawings of the pre-disease self, and may indicate an increased level of anxiety and the need to protect in the present-after the disease-as compared to their situation prior to the disease [20] It may also indicate a source of external pressure that characterized drawings done under situations of anxiety [29] and drawings done by groups known to have a high anxiety level [25,26,30,31].…”

“…For example, in a study on adolescents' self representations, self-figure drawings provided information on parent-adolescent relationship [19]. A study on breast cancer survivors using self figure drawings provided information on changes in self esteem due to the cancer [20]. In view of the concerns and distress found in the breast cancer population in speaking about the 'disease', it is of great importance to assess their distress and coping strategies with the help of both 'languages': the verbal level by asking questions and the experiential level by drawing.…”