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Exploring expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with fibromyalgia patients

Bibliography: leaves 195-200.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Van der Walt, Ria
Other Authors: Graser, Roland
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Social Development 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Van der Walt, Ria
author2 Graser, Roland
author_browse Graser, Roland
Van der Walt, Ria
author_facet Graser, Roland
Van der Walt, Ria
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description Bibliography: leaves 195-200.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6941 Exploring expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with fibromyalgia patients Van der Walt, Ria Graser, Roland Clinical Practice in Social Work Bibliography: leaves 195-200. Fibromyalgia is a complex syndrome of diffuse pain associated with non-restorative sleep, fatigue, numerous tender points, depression and other conditions that often does not respond well to treatment posing a dilemma to health professionals. The aim of this study was to explore expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with eleven fibromyalgia patients at the former Princess Alice Orthopaedic Hospital, Cape Town. It focused on abandonment/rejection by caregivers during childhood, death as a form of abandonment, abandonment/rejection in adulthood by family, spouse and family-in-law, by friends, colleagues and employers, by government and society, the hospital and doctors, and by fellow group members and the facilitator. The study is exploratory, interpretative and explanatory in nature with a purposive non-probability sample. The qualitative research method was used to gain insight into the subjective experiences of the lives and illness of the participants. The method of data collection was mainly the tape recorded and transcribed words of the participants over thirty-three group therapy sessions in eleven months and observations by the researcher as full participant observer. The data was sorted and analysed into emerging themes, patterns and categories. All participants had had repetitive experiences of abandonment/rejection, which they had denied, suppressed and avoided, as it was too painful. Due to a lack of inner and external resources, or any intervention, feelings of abandonment, fear and anger were internalized as an unresolved reservoir of emotional pain. This seemed to have escalated into an eventual expression of physical pain (somatisation). From the findings of this study, there appears to be a relationship between adverse psychosocial factors and stress, particularly experiences of abandonment/rejection and fibromyalgia. However, due to the qualitative nature and small sample, the findings cannot be extrapolated and generalized to the broader population of fibromyalgia patients, and quantitative studies are needed for verification. 2014-09-08T09:46:15Z 2014-09-08T09:46:15Z 2003 Master Thesis Masters MSocSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6941 eng application/pdf Department of Social Development Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Clinical Practice in Social Work
Van der Walt, Ria
Exploring expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with fibromyalgia patients
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Exploring expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with fibromyalgia patients
title_full Exploring expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with fibromyalgia patients
title_fullStr Exploring expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with fibromyalgia patients
title_full_unstemmed Exploring expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with fibromyalgia patients
title_short Exploring expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with fibromyalgia patients
title_sort exploring expressions of abandonment and rejection that emerged from group therapy with fibromyalgia patients
topic Clinical Practice in Social Work
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6941
work_keys_str_mv AT vanderwaltria exploringexpressionsofabandonmentandrejectionthatemergedfromgrouptherapywithfibromyalgiapatients