Hill’s 3D Pavement Art (n.d.) of the intricate wall expresses the relationship between environmental manipulation and human observation. When walking by this art piece, either many will glance, unconcious of its idealism or will stop and analyze the disturbing truth that the wall is only an illusion. Upon reacting to this image, it is essential to understand that the truth does not transform one’s reality until one’s mind recognizes the complete truth. Similarly, idiopathic scoliosis represents the disturbance in spinal alignment, which patients are unconscious of until orthopedic professionals diagnose it properly. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a common spinal deformity that develops in patients between the ages 10-19 during their …show more content…
rapid period of growth (Chun Pu Chu, 2017). Under those circumstances, high percentages of adolescent patients are recommended to non-surgical treatments, which includes bracing and observation, to prevent further spinal progression. With the improvements of brace mechanics since the 16th century, brace-wear is one of the most common scoliosis treatments but its effectiveness remains unclear according to Weinstein (2013). In fact, researchers such as Misterska (2017) and Picelli (2016) have reported that this specific treatment has increased adolescents’ misperception of body image whereas some argue that it produces negative psychological effects. Such debate leads to the question: How can bracing adolescents with scoliosis be susceptible to one’s perception on quality of life (QOL) and body image? Altogether, an analysis through the medical and psychological lenses demonstrates that brace treatment does influence adolescents’ perception of body image and quality of life. These effects will ultimately assist in maximizing the success rate of bracing and other treatments for adolescent patients suffering with scoliosis. Brace treatment is one of the common methods to reduce curvature progression since it is moderately affordable and more effective than observation. Researchers have claimed that braces have the potential to reduce the progression of curvatures because the amount of time committed to the treatment correlates with a greater success rate. In a study conducted by Weinstein (2013) whose research mainly focuses on the long term outcomes of pediatric orthopedic conditions, including spinal deformities and hip disorders, the team determined the effectiveness of bracing compared to observation through the Bracing in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Trial (BRAIST) and found that the success rate of the treatment was 75%. In extension, Maruyama (2015), affiliated with the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Japan, specifically concluded that 76% of AIS curves can be stabilized by brace treatment. However, these results are only successful due to the compliance of patients as treatment is generally prescribed for 18-23 hours a day. In other words, adolescents must strongly commit to wearing the brace for the majority of their day, including school. With the intention of allowing patients to attend school brace-free, Konieczny et al. (2017) investigated if adolescents were prescribed to 16 hours a day could reduce the rate of curve progression and found that the hours did not affect the curve progression. Additionally, a study from Katz (2010) specifically concluded that “the Boston brace is an effective means of controlling curve progression in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis when worn for more than twelve hours per day” (p. 1349). Ultimately, wearing the brace for majority of the day could produce the same outcome as wearing it for even less than 16 hours because the treatment only controls the curve progression from worsening rather than improve it, which further does not abide once adolescents finish their treatment period. Misterska et al. (2017), a researcher in the Department of Pediatric Orthopaedics at Poznan University of Medical Sciences, followed up with 30 AIS patients who had completed their treatment in the past and concluded that the majority displayed current neck and back pain as well as physical limitations in everyday activities. In other words, braces could control the curvature progression within the growth period but once the brace is removed, the effects slowly deteriorate and produce additional physical pain. Therefore, brace treatment alone cannot resolve the curvature of the spine and can leave the patient in a more severe state than before the treatment began. From a psychological standpoint, patients often suffer with personality development and negative attitudes from experiences with bracing.
Between the ages 10-19 years old, adolescents enter into a sensitive phase of development of self discovery where the gain in treatment may not necessarily mean the improvement of mental health. For instance, bracing adolescents may further endure the time consuming, confining and uncomfortable commitment cognitively (Reichel, 2003). Previously, Fallstrom (1986) found that brace-treated patients experience more fear and anxiety than surgical patients initially and after several years of completed treatment, 50% of the brace group projected definite signs of negative body image, in contrast to 33% of the surgical group. Particularly, females with scoliosis have a poorer perception of body compared to boys with scoliosis, which further explains the significant difference in their perceptions of happiness and satisfaction (Sapountzi‐Krepia, 2001). According to Maslow, an American psychologist from Cornell University, his Hierarchy of Needs theory implies that the fulfillment of deprivation allows for an individual to grow and acquire self-actualization, the highest value of life. To better understand the psychological disturbance caused by brace treatments, this theory helps to explain the argument that adolescents with scoliosis continue to be insecure and ultimately change their perspective on quality of life (Maslow, 1943). Furthermore, …show more content…
female patients cannot obtain happiness and satisfaction from within because they formulated a misconception that their body is not normal compared to others and instead are disturbed by their body image. In all, these adolescents become ashamed of their body image which affects their self-confidence, leading to a poor quality part of their life. Although this may be true, as a Ph. D. student of the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, Schweiger (2016) and her team analyzed their patients and their responses over a course of 2 years and results showed that there is no significant difference in body image and QOL within or between bracing and observation. Because both brace and observation did not significantly impact body image and QOL, the acknowledgement of being diagnosed with scoliosis can simply trigger one’s alternative perception on their body. If patients did not receive any type of treatment, they would not be apprehensive if their peers could recognize the curve but they themselves are conscious of their spine. However, with the brace applied, patients would be vigilant inside and out in order to avoid their peers from noticing. Given these points, diagnosis of scoliosis can easily cause an adolescent’s perception to change negatively but brace treatment further pressurizes into imposing a poorer quality of life. Understanding the effectiveness of brace treatment on adolescents can better determine if it is worthwhile to put adolescents through this partially traumatic experience, which can in turn cause poorer perceptions of QOL and body image to arise.
Transitioning from being a child to an adult, the way adolescents, in general, perceive reality significantly changes. In example, children have a vivid imagination about aliens and princesses, but adults think more practical psychologically. From the Looking-Glass House, Carroll (1871) depicts the self-discovery of a child and their ability to imagine. Specifically, Alice actively persists to play pretend with her kitten which emphasizes her desire to improve her quality of life. In relation, scoliosis has the potential to alter an adolescent’s psychological health because it obscures the boundaries between truth and fantasy. As children, these patients are unconscious about the possibility of adjusting the spine, which directly becomes an impossible in their heads. Interacting with others also becomes more difficult because of the constant thought that they are different from the rest. Normally, adolescents should be able to reach beyond their imagination in resemblance to Alice as well as reach satisfaction in themself. However, this idealism is short-lived because they become weighed down by self conscious and isolate themselves negatively, sometimes resulting in depression, a poor quality of life. As a result, scoliosis does not
only have an impact on the physical body, but it also leaves the patient in a more severe state than before. In essence, bracing does not improve and instead stabilizes an adolescent’s spinal curvature. Bracing adolescents with scoliosis are susceptible to develop poorer perceptions of QOL and body image because brace treatment alone is not effective in restoring their curvature to normal. It is significantly more important to restore their psychological health because scoliosis has a stronger impact on how they value their life and body. As a solution to combat negative QOL and body image, physiotherapy should be added into the standard care of scoliosis. With the addition of physical therapy and a stronger team management, scoliosis treatment will increase in success and satisfaction rates. Down the line, the perception of body image and the quality of life can potentially no longer be at risk within AIS patients because the emotional support will be embedded into the treatment where it wasn't once before.
What is scoliosis? Scoliosis is a musculoskeletal disorder that causes the back to curve sideways like and “S” or a “C” and cause the body to lean to one side. Scoliosis can eventually if not looked into and not treated colid with your bodily organs like your heart, lungs, and kidneys. This can cause you to slump down into a hump and cause it hard to breath and do physical activity.
Standing in the front of the mirror every day, people see themselves gradually become an adult from a little boy or a little girl. In “Childhood Dreams”, Jennifer Yee describes a story that her father and she used to spend a lot of happy time in the amusement park together, riding carousels and so on, but now she felt lost and uncertain about her life. The reason why the author felt she was smothered by the real world was probably because she found out that as growing older, life became more complex, and she did not have as much time as she used to have to enjoy life in the childhood, and therefore felt quite depressed about the way she was.
Simons, Janet A., Donald B. Irwin, and Beverly A. Drinnin. "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Psychology: the Search for Understanding. St. Paul: West Pub., 1987. Print.
This theory lay out the concepts of what humans need to live and to succeed (Bayoumi, 2012). It is a pyramid of needs upon which humans can progress to the top. The pyramid levels are based on the needs that humans must meet before they can move to the next step (Bayoumi, 2012). The steps include, starting from the bottom, physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness, esteem, and finally at the top is self-actualization (Bayoumi, 2012). Adolescents in depression, are unable to have their needs met at many levels depending on the severity of the depression. If the depression is minor, an adolescent may be isolated and fight feelings of loneliness and is unable to progress past the level of belongingness. For adolescents with more severe depression, they may portray a decrease in self-health cares and involve themselves in risky behavior. Without proper treatment, these children would find it hard to progress beyond the safety level of Maslow’s scale. By correctly diagnosing and treating adolescent depression, health care providers will be able to free adolescent children suffering from depression and give them the tools to potentially ascend the levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy and someday reach
... growth where a child is forced to start looking for solutions for everything that is wrong instead of simply being a child. This analysis prove that children have their own way of seeing things and interpreting them. Their defense mechanisms allow them to live through hard and difficult times by creating jokes and games out of the real situation. This enables then to escape the difficulties of the real world.
Adolescence is a monster that lurks in the dreams of parents. It’s a strange new world to children and they never see coming. It’s the time of life when a world that never changes is thrown upside down. Yet, it affects more than the adolescent. It can impact families as a whole, such as the owl family shown in Larry Shles’ book, Aliens in My Nest. Squib the little owl, comes home to find his loving brother Andrew gone. Instead, it appears he has changed into a strange new creature with bumps on his beak, and clumpy feathers. His temper is short and he doesn’t appear to love his parents or brother. In response, their parents are at the ends of their ropes, and they even take Andrew to be diagnosed with owlescence, a play on adolescence. The
Scoliosis is a progressive disease. In its early stages a mild rotation and rib deformity is detected. As it progresses more vertebrae rotate, causing the ribs to crowd together on one side of the chest and to spread apart on the opposite side. The disease is usually first identified in persons 10 to 17 years old. Most cases occur in girls and become apparent during the rapid growth phase of puberty. Conditions also include shoulder unleveling, waistline discrepancies, acute headaches, shortness of breath, rib hump, chronic fatigue, and mood swings.
Vallone, Lynne. Notes. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. By Lewis Carroll. New York: The Modern Library Classics, 2002.245-252. Print.
Finding the Child in Us All Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has entertained not only children but adults for over one hundred years. The tale has become a treasure of philosophers, literary critics, psychoanalysts, and linguists. It also has attracted Carroll’s fellow mathematicians and logicians. There appears to be something in Alice for everyone, and there are almost as many explanations of the work as there are commentators. It may be perhaps Carroll’s fantastical style of writing that entertains the reader, rather than teaching them a lesson as was customary in his time. Heavy literary symbolism is difficult to trace through his works because of the fact he wrote mainly for entertainment. In fact, Carroll’s stories, including Alice, are usually described as being direct parallels to Carroll’s life. This is obvious due to the various references Carroll makes of the favorite things in his life such as his obsession with little girls and not to mention his nostalgia for childhood1. The most prominent interpretation of Alice is the theme of fantasy versus reality. The story continuously challenges the reader’s sense of the “ground rules” or what can be assumed. However, with a more in-depth search, the adult reader can find Carroll may have indeed implanted a theme relative to the confusion Alice goes through as well as the reader. In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll uses not only his love for children and logic but his linguistic playfulness to create a story in order to show the psyche of a child. Moreover, Carroll makes fun of the way Victorian children were raised. In the nineteenth century people were expected to behave according to a set of rules and morals. Carroll’s nonsensical behavior of his characters can be seen as making fun of the way children were forced to behave and their rationale. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland overall is contradicting the standard way children’s literature was written. As one can see, the story of Alice takes its reader through many different levels. With the lovable creation of a fantastical world, Carroll invites his readers on a nonsensical yet familiar journey of the questioning of identity by child yearning to take the step into adulthood prematurely, enabling him to entertain while simultaneously satirizing the Victorian Era. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland begins with Alice si...
Laura, our fragile daughter-figure, finds herself escaping life at every turn. She induces sickness in her typing class and even as the Gentleman Caller awaits her in the livingroom. Unable to deal with those difficulties, Laura goes to the zoo and walks aimlessly around the city to waste time. Frightened of interacting with people, she looks to her collection of glass animals as a place of secure acceptance. Laura clings to the fear that she is strange and crippled though she herself exacerbates the reality of that. Magnifying ...
In such a cherished children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865, has caused great commotion in political and social satire. It slowly but surely grew into one of the most adored publications in the Victorian era, expanding into today’s modern age. Lewis Carroll was the pen name utilized by Charles L. Dodgson and has forth created a sequel named Through the Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There composed first in 1871. In short, the text of the story presented with a feminist approach, a corrupt judicial system of Victorian England, the caucus race, and the absence of a childhood, the evolution of species, and Marxism.
Scoliosis is a deformation of the spinal column. The classification for Scoliosis is when the spinal column is curved sideways. Usually in the shape of the letter c or s. Unlike Lordosis, which is an extreme inward curve of the spine; or Kyphosis, a forward curve of the spine. Scoliosis's exaggeration lies in the how it's slanted.
The child has a hard time realizing that though there are many other people and things in their world, none of them are more important than the child himself. The child believes that his point of view is the only point of view of the world. This is caused by his inability to put himself in someone’s else’s shoes (Smith). The concrete operational period, spanning between the ages of 7 and 11, is marked by the onset of logic in the young mind. The child is able to mentally manipulate objects and events.
The characters in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are more than whimsical ideas brought to life by Lewis Carroll. These characters, ranging from silly to rude, portray the adults in Alice Liddell’s life. The parental figures in Alice’s reality portrayed in Alice in Wonderland are viewed as unintellectual figures through their behaviors and their interactions with one another.
Carroll brings these characters to life and makes them seem believable to Alice and the readers. With the help of the characters, there are many different lessons and metaphors that children can relate to. For example, Carrol shows how a child views the adult world, including the rules and social etiquette as well as the terrible habits developed over the course of life. This book represents the child’s struggle to flourish in the crazy world of adults. A young reader will notice that Alice has a hard time finding solutions to different situations in Wonderland. For example, she has a hard time solving the Mad Hatter’s riddle and understand the caucus race as well as the Queen’s croquet game. Alice eventually learns that there are times when she cannot find meaning or logic in situations and this shows the reader that sometimes life gets frustrating and situations are not always solvable. In order for Alice to thrive she must figure out who she is as a person and where she fits into