Background: A crucial but often overlooked impact of early life exposure to trauma is its far-reaching effect on a person’s relationship with their body. Several domains of body experience may be negatively influenced or damaged as a result of early childhood trauma. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate disturbances in three domains of body experience: body attitude, body satisfaction, and body awareness. Furthermore, associations between domains of body experience and severity of trauma symptoms as well as frequency of dissociation were evaluated. Method: Body attitude was measured with the Dresden Body Image Questionnaire, body satisfaction with the Body Cathexis Scale, and body awareness with the Somatic Awareness Questionnaire in 50 female patients with complex trauma and compared with scores in a non-clinical female sample (n = 216). Patients in the clinical sample also filled out the Davidson Trauma Scale and the Dissociation Experience Scale. Results: In all measured domains, body experience was severely affected in patients with early childhood trauma. Compared with scores in the non-clinical group, effect sizes in Cohen’s d were 2.7 for body attitude, 1.7 for body satisfaction, and 0.8 for body awareness. Associations between domains of body experience and severity of trauma symptoms were low, as were the associations with frequency of dissociative symptoms. Conclusions: Early childhood trauma in women is associated with impairments in self-reported body experience that warrant careful assessment in the treatment of women with psychiatric disorders.

BackgroundBody image has implications for psychosocial functioning and quality of life and its disturbance is reported in a broad range of psychiatric disorders. In view of the lack of instruments in Dutch measuring body image as a broad concept, we set out to make an instrument available that reflects the multidimensional character of this construct by including more dimensions than physical appearance. The Dresden Körperbildfragebogen (DBIQ, Dresden Body Image Questionnaire) particularly served this purpose. The DBIQ consists of 35 items and five subscales: body acceptance, sexual fulfillment, physical contact, vitality, and self-aggrandizement. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Dutch translation of the Dresden Body Image Questionnaire (DBIQ-NL) in a non-clinical sample.MethodsThe psychometric properties of the DBIQ-NL were examined in a non-clinical sample of 988 respondents aged between 18 and 65. We investigated the subscales' internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In order to establish construct validity we evaluated the association with a related construct, body cathexis, and with indices of self-esteem and psychological wellbeing. The factor structure of the DBIQ-NL was examined via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The equivalence of the measurement model across sex and age was evaluated by multiplegroup confirmatory factor analyses.ResultsConfirmatory factor analyses showed a structure in accordance with the original scale, where model fit was improved significantly by moving one item to another subscale. Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis across sex and age demonstrated partial strong invariance. Internal consistency was good with little overlap between the subscales. Temporal reliability and construct validity were satisfactory.ConclusionResults indicate that the DBIQ-NL is a reliable and valid instrument for non-clinical subjects. This provides a sound basis for further investigation of the DBIQ-NL in a clinical sample.

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Background: Sexual abuse in individuals with average IQ or above is associated with a wide range of behavioural, psychological and body-related characteristics. It is unknown whether individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and a history of sexual abuse suffer from similar clinical characteristics. Objective: The aim of the review is to provide an overview of the literature on the clinical characteristics of individuals with ID who have experienced sexual abuse. Method: PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Cochrane Library and Web of Sciences were searched for relevant publications using terms related to concepts of "intellectual disability" and "sexual abuse". Two independent reviewers screened and selected articles for inclusion in the study, resulting in seven studies. Results: The studies mostly reported behavioural and psychological characteristics such as aggression, self-injury, or posttraumatic stress, anxiety or depressive symptoms associated with sexual abuse in individuals with ID. None mentioned body-related characteristics. Conclusions: Similar to individuals with average IQ or above, sexual abuse in individuals with ID is associated with a broad range of behavioural and psychological characteristics. Conduct disorders, self-injury, inappropriate sexualised talk and poor feelings of personal safety seem to be more indicative for the ID population. Anxiety, depression and PTSD are prevalent in individuals with and without ID who both have experienced sexual abuse. Whether individuals with ID experience body-related characteristics is unclear.

Background: Poor anger regulation is considered a risk factor of aggression in individuals with mild or borderline intellectual disabilities. Psychomotor therapy (PMT) targets anger regulation through body-and movement-oriented interventions. This study aims to inform practitioners on efficacy and research-base of PMT in this population. Method: This systematic review evaluated nine studies which met inclusion criteria in terms of participants, intervention procedures, outcomes and certainty of evidence. Results: Seven studies revealed a substantial reduction of aggressive behaviour or anger. Certainty of evidence was rated inconclusive in most cases due to absence of experimental control. Conclusions: We can conclude that body-oriented PMT, involving progressive relaxation and meditation procedure "Soles of the Feet", is a promising approach. However, the paucity of studies and methodological limitations preclude classifying it as an evidence-based practice. This suggests stronger methodological research and research aimed at PMT's mechanisms of action (e.g., improved interoceptive awareness) is warranted.