Dysmorphophobia--a centenary discussion.
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Body Image↗
Biomedical subjects
S A Birtchnell
Publications and source records attributed to S A Birtchnell.
Body image distortion in non-eating disordered women and men.
This study of body image perception in 100 non-eating disordered women and men demonstrates that overperception of body widths, whilst accurately perceiving a neutral object, is not restricted to populations with eating disorders, nor is it peculiar to women. Men consistently overestimated body widths to the same extent as female subjects. Overall, 84% of women and 52% of men wished to weigh less. Considering those subjects within the 10% range of Mean Matched Population Weight (MMPW), men wished to be 0.75 kg heavier, whilst women at MMPW wished to weigh 3.25 kg less. For women, the subjects who were most satisfied with their actual weight were those who were well below MMPW. There is a tendancy that the greater the deviation of weight from normal, in either direction, the greater the degree of body width overestimation. These results suggest that the overperception of body width is more related to current weight than to concern about weight and shape, or to the presence or absence of an eating disorder. They question the use of empirical body size estimation measurement in eating disordered populations.
Adult↗
Body image and its disturbances.
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Aphasia↗
Body image distortion in bulimia nervosa.
Body image perception was measured in 50 women with bulima nervosa and 19 age and weight matched female controls, using a visual size estimation apparatus. Both groups overestimated body widths, but not the width of a neutral object, and whilst there was a trend for bulimics to overestimate more than controls this did not reach significance. The part of the body most overestimated corresponded to the part most disliked in only a third of both groups. The bulimics without a previous history of anorexia nervosa overestimated body width more than those with such a history; this may be related to the fact that the former had a significantly greater weight index. Bulimics who were within 5% of mean-matched population weight overestimated body width less than the others, this difference reaching significance when compared with the heavier groups; a similar, but non-significant, trend was demonstrated in controls. This may be linked to a greater dissatisfaction with body size. Duration of illness, frequency of bingeing and self-induced vomiting were not shown significantly to alter body size estimation. The bulimics who completed a 10-session outpatient treatment programme subsequently demonstrated a significant decrease in overestimation of waist and hip width.
Adult↗