Image of self; subthemes and direct quotations
| Image of self | |
| 3.1 Self loathing | ‘I look in the mirror and I just don’t see myself anymore, you know what I mean? I just …see someone else. It just doesn’t look like me. My face and a big double chin, and all that, it depresses me’ (ID10/F/46) |
| 3.2 Acceptance of self | ‘I still love you’, he said, ‘because it’s the person inside, not the outside’. ‘That’s just you’, he said, ‘you are inside there, fighting to come out all the time’ …; and that’s what he’s always said about me, I’m a fighter’ (ID9/F/47) |
| 3.3 Carer vs lover | ‘I love him as my lover, but I struggle with him as my carer… One minute they're wiping your bum and then the next minute you're ripping each other's clothes off. It does vary’ (ID5/F/32) |