Vol. 2, Issue 2, Part H (2016)

Abstract
Women are the most important part of our society. As woman makes a family, family makes a home and homes make a society. We can never think of a society that would come into existence without the contribution of women. The modern society has started recognizing the individual identity of women. She is believed to have her aspiration, abilities and qualities. Now, women are becoming not only a significant unit of the society but also influencing the course of social change in society. So, their well-being (psychological or physical) is of utmost importance to us. As breast cancer treatment improves and genetic screening brings 'compelling' insight into cancer risk, women face agonizing choices about how far to go in the name of prevention. It’s a familiar paradox: When we screen more people more often for cancer, we don’t just help by finding life-threatening cancers sooner; we also hurt by giving some people with pre-cancers or low-risk cancers overly aggressive treatments. This adversely affects their physical and psychological well-being. In this study we will compare the two psychological variables (Body Image Perception and Depression) among normal women and women who have undergone mastectomy. Participants consisted of purposely selected 40 mastectomy patients and 40 normal females (control group). Age of the mastectomy patients ranged between 25 to 40 years and so does the age of control group. Body image scale developed by Secord and Jourard (1953) and Depression scale (1961) developed by Aaron Beck was used. Results showed significant difference in both depression and body image perception among the two groups.