http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/open-gently/201212/plastic-surgery-doesnt-boost-self-esteem
Have you ever wanted to change something about
your body that you didn’t like? Maybe you hated it so much that you thought the
only way to feel better about yourself would be to get plastic surgery. Well
think again. In this article, it discusses a new study that found that teenage
girls who had lower self-esteem and body image issues and underwent plastic
surgery still suffer from the same issues. Even after they changed the part of
their body that caused them anxiety, they still reported the same feelings
years later.
The findings of the study were very clear stating,
“those who chose to have cosmetic surgery tended to have a history of pooper
mental health to begin with, but having cosmetic surgery did not result in a
positive outcome”. In one of the
studies that followed patients for two years, they did find that people were
overall happier with their appearance of the area they had altered, but most of
the patients showed no changes in their self-esteem or depression.
I think this article is very interesting because
many people think that plastic surgery is the “quick fix” to their self-image
problems. However, you can change the exterior but you do not change what is
really going on within the person. If people do not address the real root of
their self-image or depression problems, they will still be unhappy. What do
you think about the findings of this study? Were you surprised that the patient’s
self esteem was unchanged even after their surgery? How could people who suffer
from body image issues fix the problem without undergoing invasive plastic
surgery?
I think that this article brings up a very good point. Many people resort to plastic surgery when it is actually an emotional or mental problem that is the underlying issue. My grandfather was a plastic surgeon and his patients always had to undergo psychological testing to make sure that they had a relatively healthy mindset for surgery, that they were getting work done for the "right" reasons, and that they had realistic expectations. Sadly, I don't believe that all plastic surgeons do this. I believe that psychological testing should be required before people get plastic surgery done. Sadly, though, this will never happen because it would make plastic surgeons lose a lot of business.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that there is nothing wrong with getting work done, as long as it isn't drastic and it makes the person happier. But I do think that many people resort to plastic surgery to fix insecurities that would be better fixed by seeing a different kind of doctor - a psychiatrist.
The results of the study conducted in this article came to me as a surprise. I would have agreed the patients would feel better about their resulting appearance, but would have thought this would carry over to affect depression symptoms. When the article mentions that the participants were not happier overall, I looked for possible reasons. I suppose many depression symptoms, scientists are learning, stem from the biological design in our genes. Once people have their plastic surgery done, I suppose the participants may find another source of anxiety and focus on this other imperfection.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn’t seem, however, that this other imperfection has to do with appearance, as the participants answered that they would have done the surgery again given the chance. I don’t think plastic surgery recipients necessarily have to be seen by psychiatrists before the surgery. If they want to have the operation done, I don’t see why not. By a looks of these results, apparently they won’t be as happy as they would think, but they were happy with the resulting appearance. One more aspect to consider is that the study in this article was done on teenage girls. I’m not sure I would want my child to get plastic surgery in her teens, but those girls were probably just concerned with many aspects of their lives and when they solved the appearance issue, they just found other stressors of life.
I completely agree with this article that plastic surgery does not boost someone’s self esteem. In fact, I had a friend that was suffering from this exact problem. She always tried to find something wrong with her body, and no matter what she did (whether it was getting plastic surgery or seeing a therapist) she would always end up finding some other thing that she didn’t like about herself. I think plastic surgery just fixes one thing about your body, but doesn’t stop you from finding something else to complain about. The real reason behind all of this is fixing your self-esteem issues rather than choosing the easy way out and making yourself “look better.”
ReplyDeleteThe findings of this article were not really that much of a surprise to me, I think that when someone can be in complete control over everything down to the way their nose curves, there's no way that their self esteem will be "normal." Its my opinion that people should not dabble in the plastic surgery world until after the age of 30-35. After that time, do whatever you want, as you're likely a full fledged clear thinking adult. Plastic surgery in younger people should almost always be avoided as people change with age and no one really knows when their body is fully done changing and being shaped. People who have true self esteem issues should go to therapy and seek psychological help because just going out and getting a brow lift is not addressing the real underlying problem. Something is obviously going wrong at the brain level to make people think that they are sub-par and that really needs to be corrected because something like that shouldn't matter that much. I understand that there are social pressures communicated through media in thousands of ways, but I think looking totally unnatural from countless surgeries would be worse and more detrimental to self esteem than looking "normal." So, people with true self-esteem issues really need to go and get help from a professional who's tools of the trade aren't scalpels and saline bags.
ReplyDeleteSelf Esteem for Teens is all about how much we feel valued, loved, accepted, and thought well of by others — and how much we value, love, and accept ourselves. Self Esteem for Teens are able to feel good about themselves, appreciate their own worth, and take pride in their abilities, skills, and accomplishments. People with low self-esteem may feel as if no one will like them or accept them or that they can't do well in anything.
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