Maria Isabel Gaete Celis, PhD | University of Chile (original) (raw)
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Papers by Maria Isabel Gaete Celis, PhD
Revista Mexicana de trastornos alimentarios, Dec 17, 2021
Most of body image assessment techniques have focused on the analysis of their perceptual and sub... more Most of body image assessment techniques have focused on the analysis of their perceptual and subjective components, and there is scant evidence on the utilization of figurative methods with body silhouettes. To describe instruments that estimate the perceptual distortion of body shape, particularly when exposing standardized silhouettes that vary in their corpulence and physical characteristics, analysing the role of this type of measures in clinical, demographic and transcultural studies. A review of specialised textbooks and the available literature on the assessment of body image distortion through silhouettes in Medline/PubMed and SciELO was carried out. The analysis showed that silhouettes scales have advantages and limitations. They usually facilitate a fast administration and group data collection in primary prevention contexts; however, validation studies are scarce and their reliability is partial in Spanish-speaking samples. It was concluded that more validation within
GMS Journal of Arts Therapies, 2022
Background: The study of experience is both the object of study for phenomenology and a crucial p... more Background: The study of experience is both the object of study for phenomenology and a crucial part of the psychotherapeutic technique.
Adaptive Behavior, 2022
The tension between reflection and experience has been highlighted by Buddhism as the origin of h... more The tension between reflection and experience has been highlighted by Buddhism as the origin of human suffering, described as an undercurrent and constant feelings of restlessness, grasping, anxiety, and dissatisfaction or disease. This universal suffering experience called Dukkha refers to the failure to find a Self in reflection or the frustrated desire or craving to have or to be something. For Buddhism, not only the desired object is illusory, but so is the desiring self. Further, Varela et al. (1993) integrate these ideas into the development of cognitive sciences and the understanding of human experience from an embodied and selfless mind perspective. The present article attempts to apply the Buddhist notion of suffering or Dukkha along with Varela, Thompson, and Rosch's contributions to the understanding of the embodied sense of Self that characterizes symptoms of Depression. The expression of the self-grasping suffering experiences and the tension between reflection and experience for depressive patients will be discussed from an enacted and embodied perspective. Further, new research ideas along with possible new psychotherapeutic approaches are discussed.
Archives of Clinical Psychiatry (São Paulo), 2018
Background: Delusional characteristics have been largely ignored in patients suffering from anore... more Background: Delusional characteristics have been largely ignored in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN). Objectives: To review the literature on delusional features in AN from phenomenological, neurobiological, and clinical viewpoints. Methods: Data were obtained through searches of Medline, PubMed, SciELO and Cochrane Library. Results: Distorted beliefs in AN may range from an overvalued idea to an overt delusion, involving affective, personality and/or psychotic disorders. Studies confirm alterations in monoaminergic systems. It has also been seen a decreased integration of visual/proprioceptive information, and alterations in neural networks involved in body processing. It is known that body image distortion may present "delusional proportions" as a consequence of great concern about body. Concomitantly, "embodied defence hypothesis" has been proposed. Restrictive AN exhibits higher levels of delusionality, and a particular delusional type of AN has been suggested, associated with a worse long-term outcome. Low doses of atypical antipsychotics are recommended combined with cognitive techniques. Discussion: Delusional thinking in AN is likely a dynamic and dimensional phenomenon that can vary, both in nature and/or severity, whereas high insight levels, before and after refeeding, result in positive outcomes. Neurobiological research on this topic must be encouraged, since clinical and phenomenological approaches are comparatively more frequently reported.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2017
Fibromyalgia is a widespread chronic pain disease characterized by generalized musculoskeletal pa... more Fibromyalgia is a widespread chronic pain disease characterized by generalized musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. It substantially affects patients' relationship with their bodies and quality of life, but few studies have investigated the relationship between pain and body awareness in fibromyalgia. We examined exteroceptive and interoceptive aspects of body awareness in 30 women with fibromyalgia and 29 control participants. Exteroceptive body awareness was assessed by a body-scaled action-anticipation task in which participants estimated whether they could pass through apertures of different widths. Interoceptive sensitivity (IS) was assessed by a heartbeat detection task where participants counted their heartbeats during different time intervals. Interoceptive awareness was assessed by the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). The "passability ratio" (the aperture size for a 50% positive response rate, divided by shoulder width), assessed by the body-scaled action-anticipation task, was higher for fibromyalgia participants, indicating disrupted exteroceptive awareness. Overestimating body size correlated positively with pain and its impact on functionality, but not with pain intensity. There was no difference in IS between groups. Fibromyalgia patients exhibited a higher tendency to note bodily sensations and decreased body confidence. In addition, the passability ratio and IS score correlated negatively across the whole sample, suggesting an inverse relationship between exteroceptive and interoceptive body awareness. There was a lower tendency to actively listen to the body for insight, with higher passability ratios across the whole sample. Based on our results and building on the fear-avoidance model, we outline a proposal that highlights possible interactions between exteroceptive and interoceptive body awareness and pain. Movement based contemplative practices that target sensory-motor integration and foster non-judgmental reconnection with bodily sensations are suggested to improve body confidence, functionality, and quality of life.
Constructivist Foundations, 2019
The target article presents a methodology of micro-phenomenological analysis that gives salience ... more The target article presents a methodology of micro-phenomenological analysis that gives salience to the idea of researching as an intersubjective meaning-making process. While the methodology belongs to the so-called “first-person research methods,” in my commentary I address the questions of whether it is also part of the traditional qualitative methods and whether it is epistemologically consistent.
Background: Delusional characteristics have been largely ignored in patients suffering from anore... more Background: Delusional characteristics have been largely ignored in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN). Objectives: To review the literature on delusional features in AN from phenomenological, neurobiological, and clinical viewpoints. Methods: Data were obtained through searches of Medline, PubMed, SciELO and Cochrane Library. Results: Distorted beliefs in AN may range from an overvalued idea to an overt delusion, involving affective, personality and/or psychotic disorders. Studies confirm alterations in monoaminergic systems. It has also been seen a decreased integration of visual/proprioceptive information, and alterations in neural networks involved in body processing. It is known that body image distortion may present “delusional proportions” as a consequence of great concern about body. Concomitantly, “embodied defence hypothesis” has been proposed. Restrictive AN exhibits higher levels of delusionality, and a particular delusional type of AN has been suggested, associated with a worse long-term outcome. Low doses of atypical antipsychotics are recommended combined with cognitive techniques. Discussion: Delusional thinking in AN is likely a dynamic and dimensional phenomenon that can vary, both in nature and/or severity, whereas high insight levels, before and after refeeding, result in positive outcomes. Neurobiological research on this topic must be encouraged, since clinical and phenomenological approaches are comparatively more frequently reported.
Fibromyalgia is a widespread chronic pain disease characterized by generalized musculoskeletal pa... more Fibromyalgia is a widespread chronic pain disease characterized by generalized musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. It substantially affects patients' relationship with their bodies and quality of life, but few studies have investigated the relationship between pain and body awareness in fibromyalgia. We examined exteroceptive and interoceptive aspects of body awareness in 30 women with fibromyalgia and 29 control participants. Exteroceptive body awareness was assessed by a body-scaled action-anticipation task in which participants estimated whether they could pass through apertures of different widths. Interoceptive sensitivity (IS) was assessed by a heartbeat detection task where participants counted their heartbeats during different time intervals. Interoceptive awareness was assessed by the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). The " passability ratio " (the aperture size for a 50% positive response rate, divided by shoulder width), assessed by the body-scaled action-anticipation task, was higher for fibromyalgia participants, indicating disrupted exteroceptive awareness. Overestimating body size correlated positively with pain and its impact on functionality, but not with pain intensity. There was no difference in IS between groups. Fibromyalgia patients exhibited a higher tendency to note bodily sensations and decreased body confidence. In addition, the passability ratio and IS score correlated negatively across the whole sample, suggesting an inverse relationship between exteroceptive and interoceptive body awareness. There was a lower tendency to actively listen to the body for insight, with higher passability ratios across the whole sample. Based on our results and building on the fear-avoidance model, we outline a proposal that highlights possible interactions between exteroceptive and interoceptive body awareness and pain. Movement based contemplative practices that target sensory-motor integration and foster non-judgmental reconnection with bodily sensations are suggested to improve body confidence, functionality, and quality of life.
This paper is a critical analysis and overview of body image conceptualization and its scope and ... more This paper is a critical analysis and overview of body image conceptualization and its scope and limits within the field of eating disorders (EDs) up to the present day. In addition, a concept of emotional bodily experience is advanced in an attempt to shift towards a more comprehensive and multidimensional perspective for the lived body of these patients. It mainly considers contributions from phenomenology, embodiment theories and a review of the empirical findings that shed light on the emotional bodily experience in eating disorders. It proposes an ‘embodied defense’ that leads patients to experiencing their own bodies as objects. This proposal highlights the need for new psychotherapeutic tools in the treatment of EDs that take into account the bodily resonance of emotions and their use for improving adaptive responses to the environment: it calls for helping patients to recover the subjective experience of their bodies.
Key words: embodiment, embodied affectivity, affective intentionality, bodily resonance, embodied defense.
Revista Mexicana de trastornos alimentarios, Dec 17, 2021
Most of body image assessment techniques have focused on the analysis of their perceptual and sub... more Most of body image assessment techniques have focused on the analysis of their perceptual and subjective components, and there is scant evidence on the utilization of figurative methods with body silhouettes. To describe instruments that estimate the perceptual distortion of body shape, particularly when exposing standardized silhouettes that vary in their corpulence and physical characteristics, analysing the role of this type of measures in clinical, demographic and transcultural studies. A review of specialised textbooks and the available literature on the assessment of body image distortion through silhouettes in Medline/PubMed and SciELO was carried out. The analysis showed that silhouettes scales have advantages and limitations. They usually facilitate a fast administration and group data collection in primary prevention contexts; however, validation studies are scarce and their reliability is partial in Spanish-speaking samples. It was concluded that more validation within
GMS Journal of Arts Therapies, 2022
Background: The study of experience is both the object of study for phenomenology and a crucial p... more Background: The study of experience is both the object of study for phenomenology and a crucial part of the psychotherapeutic technique.
Adaptive Behavior, 2022
The tension between reflection and experience has been highlighted by Buddhism as the origin of h... more The tension between reflection and experience has been highlighted by Buddhism as the origin of human suffering, described as an undercurrent and constant feelings of restlessness, grasping, anxiety, and dissatisfaction or disease. This universal suffering experience called Dukkha refers to the failure to find a Self in reflection or the frustrated desire or craving to have or to be something. For Buddhism, not only the desired object is illusory, but so is the desiring self. Further, Varela et al. (1993) integrate these ideas into the development of cognitive sciences and the understanding of human experience from an embodied and selfless mind perspective. The present article attempts to apply the Buddhist notion of suffering or Dukkha along with Varela, Thompson, and Rosch's contributions to the understanding of the embodied sense of Self that characterizes symptoms of Depression. The expression of the self-grasping suffering experiences and the tension between reflection and experience for depressive patients will be discussed from an enacted and embodied perspective. Further, new research ideas along with possible new psychotherapeutic approaches are discussed.
Archives of Clinical Psychiatry (São Paulo), 2018
Background: Delusional characteristics have been largely ignored in patients suffering from anore... more Background: Delusional characteristics have been largely ignored in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN). Objectives: To review the literature on delusional features in AN from phenomenological, neurobiological, and clinical viewpoints. Methods: Data were obtained through searches of Medline, PubMed, SciELO and Cochrane Library. Results: Distorted beliefs in AN may range from an overvalued idea to an overt delusion, involving affective, personality and/or psychotic disorders. Studies confirm alterations in monoaminergic systems. It has also been seen a decreased integration of visual/proprioceptive information, and alterations in neural networks involved in body processing. It is known that body image distortion may present "delusional proportions" as a consequence of great concern about body. Concomitantly, "embodied defence hypothesis" has been proposed. Restrictive AN exhibits higher levels of delusionality, and a particular delusional type of AN has been suggested, associated with a worse long-term outcome. Low doses of atypical antipsychotics are recommended combined with cognitive techniques. Discussion: Delusional thinking in AN is likely a dynamic and dimensional phenomenon that can vary, both in nature and/or severity, whereas high insight levels, before and after refeeding, result in positive outcomes. Neurobiological research on this topic must be encouraged, since clinical and phenomenological approaches are comparatively more frequently reported.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2017
Fibromyalgia is a widespread chronic pain disease characterized by generalized musculoskeletal pa... more Fibromyalgia is a widespread chronic pain disease characterized by generalized musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. It substantially affects patients' relationship with their bodies and quality of life, but few studies have investigated the relationship between pain and body awareness in fibromyalgia. We examined exteroceptive and interoceptive aspects of body awareness in 30 women with fibromyalgia and 29 control participants. Exteroceptive body awareness was assessed by a body-scaled action-anticipation task in which participants estimated whether they could pass through apertures of different widths. Interoceptive sensitivity (IS) was assessed by a heartbeat detection task where participants counted their heartbeats during different time intervals. Interoceptive awareness was assessed by the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). The "passability ratio" (the aperture size for a 50% positive response rate, divided by shoulder width), assessed by the body-scaled action-anticipation task, was higher for fibromyalgia participants, indicating disrupted exteroceptive awareness. Overestimating body size correlated positively with pain and its impact on functionality, but not with pain intensity. There was no difference in IS between groups. Fibromyalgia patients exhibited a higher tendency to note bodily sensations and decreased body confidence. In addition, the passability ratio and IS score correlated negatively across the whole sample, suggesting an inverse relationship between exteroceptive and interoceptive body awareness. There was a lower tendency to actively listen to the body for insight, with higher passability ratios across the whole sample. Based on our results and building on the fear-avoidance model, we outline a proposal that highlights possible interactions between exteroceptive and interoceptive body awareness and pain. Movement based contemplative practices that target sensory-motor integration and foster non-judgmental reconnection with bodily sensations are suggested to improve body confidence, functionality, and quality of life.
Constructivist Foundations, 2019
The target article presents a methodology of micro-phenomenological analysis that gives salience ... more The target article presents a methodology of micro-phenomenological analysis that gives salience to the idea of researching as an intersubjective meaning-making process. While the methodology belongs to the so-called “first-person research methods,” in my commentary I address the questions of whether it is also part of the traditional qualitative methods and whether it is epistemologically consistent.
Background: Delusional characteristics have been largely ignored in patients suffering from anore... more Background: Delusional characteristics have been largely ignored in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN). Objectives: To review the literature on delusional features in AN from phenomenological, neurobiological, and clinical viewpoints. Methods: Data were obtained through searches of Medline, PubMed, SciELO and Cochrane Library. Results: Distorted beliefs in AN may range from an overvalued idea to an overt delusion, involving affective, personality and/or psychotic disorders. Studies confirm alterations in monoaminergic systems. It has also been seen a decreased integration of visual/proprioceptive information, and alterations in neural networks involved in body processing. It is known that body image distortion may present “delusional proportions” as a consequence of great concern about body. Concomitantly, “embodied defence hypothesis” has been proposed. Restrictive AN exhibits higher levels of delusionality, and a particular delusional type of AN has been suggested, associated with a worse long-term outcome. Low doses of atypical antipsychotics are recommended combined with cognitive techniques. Discussion: Delusional thinking in AN is likely a dynamic and dimensional phenomenon that can vary, both in nature and/or severity, whereas high insight levels, before and after refeeding, result in positive outcomes. Neurobiological research on this topic must be encouraged, since clinical and phenomenological approaches are comparatively more frequently reported.
Fibromyalgia is a widespread chronic pain disease characterized by generalized musculoskeletal pa... more Fibromyalgia is a widespread chronic pain disease characterized by generalized musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. It substantially affects patients' relationship with their bodies and quality of life, but few studies have investigated the relationship between pain and body awareness in fibromyalgia. We examined exteroceptive and interoceptive aspects of body awareness in 30 women with fibromyalgia and 29 control participants. Exteroceptive body awareness was assessed by a body-scaled action-anticipation task in which participants estimated whether they could pass through apertures of different widths. Interoceptive sensitivity (IS) was assessed by a heartbeat detection task where participants counted their heartbeats during different time intervals. Interoceptive awareness was assessed by the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). The " passability ratio " (the aperture size for a 50% positive response rate, divided by shoulder width), assessed by the body-scaled action-anticipation task, was higher for fibromyalgia participants, indicating disrupted exteroceptive awareness. Overestimating body size correlated positively with pain and its impact on functionality, but not with pain intensity. There was no difference in IS between groups. Fibromyalgia patients exhibited a higher tendency to note bodily sensations and decreased body confidence. In addition, the passability ratio and IS score correlated negatively across the whole sample, suggesting an inverse relationship between exteroceptive and interoceptive body awareness. There was a lower tendency to actively listen to the body for insight, with higher passability ratios across the whole sample. Based on our results and building on the fear-avoidance model, we outline a proposal that highlights possible interactions between exteroceptive and interoceptive body awareness and pain. Movement based contemplative practices that target sensory-motor integration and foster non-judgmental reconnection with bodily sensations are suggested to improve body confidence, functionality, and quality of life.
This paper is a critical analysis and overview of body image conceptualization and its scope and ... more This paper is a critical analysis and overview of body image conceptualization and its scope and limits within the field of eating disorders (EDs) up to the present day. In addition, a concept of emotional bodily experience is advanced in an attempt to shift towards a more comprehensive and multidimensional perspective for the lived body of these patients. It mainly considers contributions from phenomenology, embodiment theories and a review of the empirical findings that shed light on the emotional bodily experience in eating disorders. It proposes an ‘embodied defense’ that leads patients to experiencing their own bodies as objects. This proposal highlights the need for new psychotherapeutic tools in the treatment of EDs that take into account the bodily resonance of emotions and their use for improving adaptive responses to the environment: it calls for helping patients to recover the subjective experience of their bodies.
Key words: embodiment, embodied affectivity, affective intentionality, bodily resonance, embodied defense.