Body image, often a personal reflection of our identity, can undergo a profound transformation during the journey of cancer treatment. While the physical battle against cancer is widely recognized, the silent struggle with body image issues is a reality for many. This often overlooked aspect affects a significant number of individuals undergoing cancer treatment, altering their perception of self and impacting their emotional well-being.
In this short presentation, we aim to shed light on the complexities of body image challenges faced by cancer patients and to provide a few tips on how to best handle
body image challenges.
Once you have completed this presentation, you can move on to the presentation that focuses on
Sexuality, Relationships and Body Image.
Whether you are a young cancer survivor looking for some theoretical background to better understand your experiences or a professional supporting young cancer survivors, we hope you find these resources useful!
Identity Issues: Lifeline Exercise — Instructions
Experiential Exercise: “Life Line”
Sit comfortably in your chair. Close your eyes or look down and notice your breathing. Inhale… exhale… repeat 2–3 times.
As you breathe, focus on your shoulders. Notice if they are tense and let them relax.
Observe your hands—let them fall heavily without holding any weight…
Move to your pelvis—find your most comfortable position on the chair…
Then to your feet—let them fall heavily and rest on the floor.
Drawing Your Life Line
Now, imagine a line that shows your path until now.
This line starts at the beginning of life and ends in the present.
Include significant incidents, periods, experiences, and situations that touched you—both difficult and beautiful moments.
Now draw the line you imagined.
Use any colors, materials, symbols, shapes, or short words that help you capture your memories.
Pause and notice how you feel. Write it on a piece of paper.
Positive Relationships
Look back over your life line and think about the people and positive relationships that have supported you. These may be:
- People from the past
- People no longer present in your life
- Friends or family
- Individuals you knew well or only briefly
- People who supported you unexpectedly
Observe the memories as they arise. Remember faces, names, and feelings connected to these individuals. Note them above your life line.
Now notice how you feel.
You can now move to part two of the exercise:
👉 Reflection Questions
Identity Issues: Lifeline Exercise — Reflection Questions
Reflection Questions
- How is it now that your positive relationships have been imprinted?
- Are they the same as before?
- Has something changed?
- Keep the feeling you are having right now and write it down on the same paper.
- How easy was it for positive relationships to come to mind?
- Did any toxic relationships appear next to the positive ones?
