Burn Support Online : Lack of worth

We judge ourselves in relation to the community, and our sense of personal value always (to a degree) depends upon relationships with the outside world. A core sense of one�s worth or lack of it, may be internalized in childhood and adolescence. This is an excessive burden for children who then have to confront and integrate their own feelings towards their body image as well as the attitudes of the people and culture around them. Society stigmatizes individuals with deformities, denying them full social acceptance and adding disapproval, denigration and avoidance. Although this attitude towards scarred and disfigured people is not necessarily communicated visibly to the specific individual, it is an issue that burn-disfigured people all have to confront.xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

In1992 in an article on �Reclaiming body image" an author explored her feelings as an adult after a burn injury at the age of four years old that left 45 per cent of her body with permanent scars. In a burn survivors� self-help group, unclothed, she expresses the sadness in the group members eyes and states that perhaps in my burn injury they recognized the pain that I had been through.� The burn injuries are located on her chin, ears, neck, shoulders, upper arms, chest down to waist and large areas on her legs. Part of this support group�s intention was to reclaim positive feelings about their unclothed bodies. Looking at her body in a full-length mirror, her focus was on her scarring and the confirmation of the physical and emotional pain that she had experienced with this burn injury. It took her several years to feel comfortable about her body before an integrated body image emerged.