برآورد اندازه بدن در بیماران بیماری بی اشتهایی عصبی: اهمیت حد برآورد

Using the video distortion method on a life-size screen, we have studied body size estimation in 100 female restricting anorexia nervosa patients. About half of the patients were accurate in estimating their own body dimensions and only 20% clearly showed overestimation. We then tested whether differences in accuracy of estimation were related to scores on the following questionnaires: Eating Disorder Inventory; Body Attitude Test; and Symptom Checklist (SCL-90). Overestimators reported a more negative body attitude and a more “neurotic profile” on the SCL-90. These differences might have both prognostic and therapeutic implications.

The notion of body image in anorexia nervosa patients and its operationalization in perceptual research has been criticized in recent years 1 and 2. For too long a time the discussion about this issue has been simplified to the question of whether these patients overestimate their own body size. The contradictory results in the literature are usually attributed to differences in methodology. After extensive research 3, 4 and 5we have developed a reliable and clinically relevant method: the video distortion method on a life-size screen. The subjects are asked to adjust the previously distorted image of themselves on a life-size screen until it corresponds to what they “think,” “feel,” or “wish” to look like. The videotaped images can be distorted in two ways: from narrow to wide, and vice versa. This method has yielded high to very high reliability scores (consistency and test–retest stability). It may also be considered as the most “naturalistic” of the existing methods to estimate one's own body size, because the subjects are confronted with their life-size image as if they are looking in a mirror. Using the video distortion method, from the very beginning we found diverging results within the same diagnostic subgroups. Hence, we were wondering what these differences could mean. Is under/overestimation of body size related to current weight or body composition (e.g., percentage body fat)? Do these differences in body estimation reflect specific body attitudes or are they related to other psychological features such as perfectionism and mood?