Percepção corporal em pré-adolescentes e adolescentes com sobrepeso e obesidade: uma análise junguiana

The confrontation of obesity demands psychosocial support in face of the high prevalence of psychopathologies associated with weight bias in adolescence. Body perception was analyzed in 63 subjects, 37 boys and 26 girls from 9 to 14 years old from Monteiro Lobato, Sao Paulo, through the Body Perception Drawing. The evaluation was based on body conscience and persona, correlated to sex, age and BMI via Chi-Square. Results: BMI influences the perception of Body Contour. Sex and age influence Integration. Obese pre-adolescent girls and boys presented borderline alteration in the Contour and Body Posture perception, respectively. For jungian psychology, obesity in adolescence activates unconscious conflicts, alters the ego balance, reinforces isolation and feeds the identity crisis. Body perception, an unexplored topic demands for research and validation of instruments for the understanding of obesity in adolescence.