Social Realities of Loss and Suffering Following Mastectomy

Abstract

This article draws on personal accounts of women’s thoughts and feelings following mastectomy. The analysis of the material obtained in multiple, focused interviews has revealed two major themes in these accounts: on the one hand, the loss of bodily symmetry (one of the basic cultural criteria of physical beauty) was deeply felt; and on the other, peace of mind (a characteristic of psychological beauty) was permanently disturbed by the fear of the recurrence of cancer and the possibility of death. While the asymmetrical body is a potentially (socially) visible problem of presentation and representation, the fear of recurrence is a fear of the workings of the body that are not visible and not knowable. A woman who has had a breast removed will concern herself, usually in isolation, with her secret unpredictable interior. This fear will be her very own preoccupation, not only because in our society death and disease are deemed threatening and ugly – but also because the uncertainty of the health-status of a woman following mastectomy is socially (as well as medically) veiled by discourse which assumes that she is ‘well’. Though a woman may feel well, she fears that her body may not be well; yet her fear is necessarily silenced through both social denial and incongruity with experience. The article explores in some detail the nature of the stress that inevitably results in this ill-understood, complex situation.

A new normal?: Women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer

“…As such, it can be argued that patients can experience biographical disruption not only at point of diagnosis, but also when they leave the sick role and enter an interim state situated between being ill and being fully restored to a pre-diagnosis state of health. This interim state may be conceptualised as liminality (Powers et al, 2014;Blows et al, 2012;Crouch & McKenzie, 2000).…”

“…Furthermore, just one study was identified which focussed specifically on breast cancer (Crouch & McKenzie, 2000) but only included 7 participants. Therefore, this study of 24 women who had completed treatment up to 29 years earlier enables a longer term and more in depth consideration of ongoing disruptions to identities, bodies and relationships, from diagnosis of breast cancer to the end of treatment, and well beyond.…”

Process of Coping with Mastectomy: a Qualitative Study in Iran

“…Crouch and McKenzie's work (2000), entitled as social realities of loss and suffering following mastectomy, revealed that patients undergone mastectomy suffer from feeling of not having body balance which is a major factor in physical attractiveness, and lack of mental peace as a key indicator in mental attractiveness because of fear frm disease recurrence and death hazard. Both factors result in reduction of quality of life to a great extent (Crouch et al, 2000).…”

An Exploration of the Existential Experiences of Patients Following Curative Treatment for Cancer: Reflections from a U.K. Sample

“…In a review of the existential challenges faced by individuals with cancer, Henoch & Danielson (2009) reported that patients often perceive a range of threats to their self-identity and may struggle to maintain this. Research involving individuals in the post-treatment phase has shown that adverse effects may be felt by those whose sense of identity may still carry a stigma of being a cancer patient (Crouch & McKenzie, 2000). In the present study, the loss of identity had, for some, been specifically linked to gender roles, whereas for others, it had related to a general sense of lacking ability.…”

“…Some researchers have, however, examined existential experiences as part of wider research objectives. For example, explorations of the discordant feelings of cancer survivors have shown that many individuals who had been symptom free of cancer for up to two years tend to experience existential concerns relating to isolation and death (Crouch & McKenzie, 2000). Similarly, an examination of the supportive care needs of women following treatment for a gynaecological cancer by Hodgkinson et al (2007) found that the participants had experienced changes in beliefs, questions about the meaning of life and increased anxiety around mortality.…”