TITLE:
Hypermodern Hearts: What Makes Them Suffer and Become Ill?
AUTHORS:
Suzana de A. Paiva, Joel S. Giglio, Carmen Silvia P. Lima, Francisco Silveira
KEYWORDS:
Qualitative Research, Hypermodernity, Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), Breast Cancer, Psychoneuroendocrinoimunology
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Psychology,
Vol.4 No.3,
June
5,
2015
ABSTRACT: In this research, we highlight the hypermodern individual, the ways he
lives in the contemporary world and the psychosocial determinants involved in
illness. We aim to reveal the impact of traumatic life events and the senses
and meanings given by the patients to their pathologies. The research was
carried out at two private hospitals in Brazil, in the years 2010 and 2011. The
study is based on a qualitative method, through a semistructured interview with
open-ended questions and the drawings-stories procedure, in an intentional
sample, closed by saturation, during the period of hospitalization and right
after leaving hospital (15 to 30 days). We used a qualitative content analysis
and analysis of drawings under the framework of Analytical Psychology. Seven
female patients that underwent surgery were the subjects of this research: two
with Myocardial Infarction, one with Takotsubo Syndrome, three with Breast Cancer and one with both pathologies. Through the
analysis of the interviews and the symbols presented in the drawings, we
observed demands for hyperformance and hyperfection, linked with
illness, when in excess. Traumatic life events, job stress, reactions to loss, and
death of loved ones without the possibility of psychological elaboration may
cause fragility and a lowering of the capacity of the immune system to react, causing
damage to health. Through the symbolic trajectory of life, spontaneously
presented in the drawings, we observed the three types of thinking in the
structure of the psiqué which formed the basis for mental equilibrium:
rational, symbolic and mythological. Infarction and breast cancer cause
different impacts on women’s lives. Knowing how to deal with stressful events
and being conscious of the meanings given to illness may contribute to making a
better or worse experience in life. Such knowledge may be crucial for both
primary and secondary prevention.