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Biomedical subjects

W Vandereycken

Publications and source records attributed to W Vandereycken.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Body size estimation in eating disorder patients: testing the video distortion method on a life-size screen.

The video distortion method on a life-size screen is a new method for studying eating disordered patients' estimations of their own body width. Testing this method in female patients (53 with anorexia nervosa, 38 with bulimia nervosa) and 36 normal females, yielded high to very high reliability scores (consistency and test-retest stability). A careful analysis of the 'just noticeable difference' showed that a 5% deviation from the undistorted image should be considered as within the range of accuracy. Taking this into account, anorectic patients appear to score below, above, as well as within the normal range. Bulimia nervosa patients are either accurate in their body estimations or overestimate their body width. All control Ss are correct in their estimations. With this method no significant differences were found between the anorectic patients and the controls. Bulimics differ significantly from anorectics and controls on their optative responses (i.e. what they wanted to look like) and their affective responses (i.e. what they felt they looked like).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Dissociative and hypnotic experiences in eating disorder patients: an exploratory study.

Hypnotizability, subjective experiences during hypnotizability assessment, and dissociation were studied in 53 eating disorder patients in order to explore the relationship between these phenomena. Dissociation was measured with a newly developed self-reporting Dissociation-Questionnaire (DIS-Q), level of hypnotizability was assessed with the Stanford Hypnotic Clinical Scale (SHCS), subjective experiences during hypnosis with the Dutch Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (DPCI), and the Dutch Resistance to Hypnosis Scale (DRHS). Compared with normals, eating disorder patients scored significantly higher on the DIS-Q and SHCS. Compared with restricting anorexics, anorexics of the mixed type as well as bulimics report higher scores on both the DIS-Q and SHCS, but a significant difference was found only for the DIS-Q subscale loss of control. Although positive correlations between the DIS-Q and SHCS were found, the magnitude of the correlations shows that both instruments probably are measuring different constructs. Some implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Marital intimacy in patients with an eating disorder: a controlled self-report study.

The clinical literature on married patients with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa suggests a lack of intimacy in these couples. This assumption was tested by comparing the scores on the Marital Intimacy Questionnaire of 21 eating-disordered (ED) couples with those of two matched control groups of 21 maritally distressed (MD) and 21 non-distressed (ND) couples. The overall level of intimacy attained by ED couples is lower than that of ND couples but higher than that of MD couples. Whereas this quantitative difference may reflect the couples' differences in marital satisfaction (as assessed by the Maudsley Marital Questionnaire), an additional qualitative discrimination can be made between ED couples and the two control groups on account of the former group's relatively low level of openness and high level of intimacy problems.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Was late-nineteenth-century nervous vomiting an early variant of bulimia nervosa?

We studied a wide variety of medical publications to find out whether late-nineteenth-century nervous or hysterial vomiting was clinically consistent with modern bulima nervosa. Since modern diagnostic criteria of bulimia nervosa my be time- and culture-bound, we made use of adapted criteria, focusing on the more overt, physical and behavioural features of the syndrome. In retrospect, it became obvious that only some of these specific diagnostic requirements were met. Indeed, late-nineteenth-century nervous or hysterical vomiters most likely have been non-organically-ill neurotics. However, their disorder was more closely associated with food abstinence in general and anorexia nervosa in particular than with overeating. Only in a few cases doctors made mention of recurrent episodes of binge eating, but there was no convincing evidence of any concern for body shape and weight. Obviously, late-nineteenth-century nervous or hysterial vomiting was still located at the crossing between classic hysteria, the 'new' clinical entity of anorexia nervosa, and forms of psychogenic vomiting.

Anorexia Nervosa↗
PubMed1995

Body size estimation in obese children: a controlled study with the video distortion method.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the reliability of the video distortion method in obese children and compare their body image with the body perception of non-obese peers. DESIGN: A standardized series of body size estimations: cognitive (what subjects 'think' they look like), affective (what they 'feel' they look like), and optative (what they 'wish' to look like). SUBJECTS: Fourty-one obese children (16 boys and 25 girls, average 12 years old) and 42 age-matched control subjects. MEASUREMENTS: Comparison of percentages of deviation from the accurate body image. RESULTS: The method was shown to be sufficiently reliable in young subjects. Compared with controls, obese children were more accurate in estimating their real body width, but desired to reduce their body size by about 25%. CONCLUSION: The video distortion method can be used as a reliable instrument to assess body perception in obese children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Emergence of bulimia nervosa as a separate diagnostic entity: review of the literature from 1960 to 1979.

With Russell's description of bulimia nervosa in 1979, followed by the DSM-III diagnosis of bulimia, a "new" eating syndrome found its official acceptance in the scientific world. In the two preceding decades clinicians and researchers gradually payed more attention to special forms of overeating. In the 1970s the nosographic conceptualizations of binge eating, bulimia, compulsive eating, or hyperorexia clearly shifted from a symptom level--closely connected to anorexia nervosa and/or obesity--to a syndrome level. Around the same time and independently from one another, clinicians from different countries proposed various descriptive labels for this new diagnostic entity, which, finally, became accepted as bulimia nervosa.

Anorexia Nervosa↗
PubMed1994

Body size estimation and body dissatisfaction in eating disorder patients and normal controls.

In this study comparing 41 eating disorder patients and 34 female controls, the video distortion technique was used to test the accuracy of body size estimation and to assess the ideal body image. No difference was found in the estimation of actual body sizes, although the accuracy of estimation was quite variable in both bulimics and anorexics. With regard to the ideal body image, significant differences were found: All bulimics and 92.6% of the controls wished to be thinner versus 42.9% of the anorexics (23.8% wished to be larger). Looking at subjective body experience, as measured with a self-report questionnaire (Body Attitudes Test), body dissatisfaction appeared to be negatively correlated with the ideal body image but not with the estimation of actual body sizes.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Psychological distress in husbands of eating disorder patients.

Psychological distress scores of 21 eating-disordered (ED) women and their husbands were compared with those of two matched groups of 21 maritally distressed (MD) and 21 maritally nondistressed (ND) control groups. In contrast to previous clinical reports, ED husbands in the present group did not report significantly more psychological distress than did ND husbands, and actually reported less interpersonal sensitivity and hostility than did MD husbands.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

The (limited) possibilities of hypnotherapy in the treatment of obesity.

In this paper we review the possibilities and limitations of hypnotherapeutic techniques in the treatment of obesity. In spite of some promising reports, the findings and opinions about the effectiveness of hypnosis in the treatment of obesity vary greatly. We provide a brief overview of specific hypnotherapeutic techniques--such as teaching relaxation, increasing self-control, encouraging physical exercise, altering self-esteem and body image, strengthening motivation, and exploring ambivalence for change--that can be involved in a multidimensional approach to obesity. Case reports illustrate the use of these techniques.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

Ill health in spouses of psychiatric patients: cause or consequence?

1. In the literature on the marital relationship of psychiatric patients it often has been reported that the healthy spouses may show a considerable degree of psychological distress. 2. A correlation of psychiatric disorders in married couples commonly has been interpreted according to two models: assortative mating and pathogenic interaction, neither of which can sufficiently explain the spousal psychiatric illness correlation. 3. The issue of psychiatric illness in the spouses of patients merits more attention from both researchers and clinicians. A psychiatric illness in one spouse must be understood within the ongoing interaction of the marital relationship.

Humans↗
PubMed1994

Early descriptions of eating disorders in the Norwegian medical literature.

By the end of the nineteenth century, anorexia nervosa had acquired a certain amount of recognition in the medical literature in many countries. In Norway, however, little attention had been paid to this eating disorder. Some anorexic-like conditions can be found in case reports on "hysteria" in children, of which the article by Selmer, from 1891, is quoted in extenso.

Bulimia↗
PubMed1993

Dissociative experiences and trauma in eating disorders.

This study explores the relationship between traumatic experiences and dissociative phenomena in a large group of eating disorder patients (N = 98). Traumatic experiences were assessed by means of a self-report questionnaire and a clinical interview; dissociative experiences were assessed with the newly developed self-reporting Dissociation Questionnaire (DIS-Q). About 25% of the patients reported to have experienced traumatic events in their personal life and this subgroup had significantly higher scores on the DIS-Q, compared with normal control subjects. About 12% of our patient sample mentioned dissociative experiences to a degree as high as in a group of patients with dissociative disorders. Amnesia turned out to be the most specific characteristic in trauma-induced dissociation. These data suggest that trauma-induced dissociative experiences may play an important role in the development of a subgroup of patients with an eating disorder.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Body image assessment in anorexia nervosa patients and university students by means of video distortion: a reliability study.

It is well known that anorexia nervosa is characterized by a disturbed body image. The video distortion method is one of the many methods to systematically study the perceptual aspect of this body image. Using a distorted image of her own appearance, the subject is asked to reconstruct the 'exact' measures of her body and to indicate her ideal image. The reliability of this method has been assessed in a study involving 67 anorexic patients and 105 female university students. Test--retest results within the same session and over a one-week interval were sufficiently constant. Nonetheless, for both anorexics and controls, significant differences were found between estimates with a narrowed (thin) image initially and those with a widened (fat) image initially. Both groups underestimate their body measures and only significantly differ on estimates of their ideal image, with anorexics clearly less underestimating their ideal image than students.

Adult↗