The Ugly Other, The Monstrous Self: An Auto-Ethnographic Research Inquiry into Abjection and Body Dissatisfaction

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between operationalized concepts of body dissatisfaction and abjection. Auto-ethnography is used as a tool for analyzing the theoretical and semantic meaning of documentation and rememberings of personal experience, grounded in reliable research methodology that is particularly applicable to facilitating an explorative process of understanding within the practice of counselling. A greater sense of understanding the lived experiences of body dissatisfaction is necessary to impact clinical understandings of the etiology, prognosis and treatment of varied experiences of pain, suffering and mental illness correlated with maladaptive psychological interpretations of embodiment.