Kowal, Alexandra Jolanta (2022) Exposure intervention of body-related memories – Will a repeated exposure intervention focusing on negative body- and appearance- related memories be helpful in improving a negative body image? Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
These days, especially women happen to suffer from having a negative body image and are subsequently affected by its consequences. Those can be impaired quality of life, impaired mental health outcomes, and in particular, heightened levels of undesirable emotions as body related self-disgust and shame. Such emotion schemas might specifically arise when triggered by memories or experiences associated with self-directed disgust and shame. As a consequence, maladaptive avoidance responses are developed and fostered through reinforcement. As past research has shown, exposure to these memories might possibly lead to a reduction of self-disgust, shame, and body image disturbances. Correspondingly, such habituation might lead to reduced behavioral avoidance patterns and to an increase of accepting one’s body. The present study proposed that a repeated exposure intervention focusing on negative body- and appearance-related autobiographical memories might be helpful in improving a negative body image. Participants’ self-report measures of self-disgust, avoidance, and shame were expected to decrease, while measures of acceptance should increase. 21 women were gathered for a counterbalanced pre-post measure within group design, and repeatedly exposed to disgust-eliciting and neutral memories. Feelings of self- disgust, avoidance, acceptance and shame were measured utilizing visual analogue scales (VAS) prior to and after exposure. Contrary to the hypotheses, paired sample t-tests demonstrated insignificant results. However, conclusions have to be made with caution due to a small sample size and questions about potential effects remain. Thus, further research should investigate such intervention within a larger, clinical sample.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Frey, M.I. and Spreckelsen, P. von |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Psychology (CP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 04 May 2022 08:13 |
| Last Modified: | 04 May 2022 08:13 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/433 |
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