PEDIATRICS Vol. 31 No. 5 May 1963, pp. 845-855
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BODY-IMAGE IN ADOLESCENTS: A PSYCHIATRIC CONCEPT FOR THE PEDIATRICIAN

William A. Schonfeld M.D.1

1 Department of Psychiatry, Children's Service, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University

The pediatrician must accept an active role in the management of the emotional and behavioral problems of the adolescent. The body-image concept is the natural domain of the pediatrician since he is in the best position to evaluate the individual's attitudes and appraisal of his own physical appearance. By understanding the factors which are involved in determining the "structure" of the body-image, namely, the individual's actual appearance, the internalized psychogenic and the sociological factors and their concept of the ideal, the pediatrician can help both the parents and the adolescent to understand their needs and develop acceptable adaptations.

The body-image as a psychiatric concept has validity at all ages but can be of particular help to understand the problems of the adolescent in whom the body takes on a new significance. There can be no doubt that in adolescence anatomic, physiological, and psychological disharmonies do take place. The pediatrician is often the one who is called on to interpret their meaning to the adolescent as well as the parents in order to prevent unhappy consequences. The patient must learn to understand and accept himself. For their own future happiness and well-being, we need somehow to foster in these young people the idea of the uniqueness, the dignity and the worth of the individual.

Submitted on July 27, 1962
Accepted on January 27, 1963




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