Body image disturbance: Time to abandon the concept for eating disorders?

Abstract

We have reviewed 19 “body image” studies on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa published recently. In general, eating disorder patients overestimate their body width more often than do normal controls and are usually more disparaging toward their body. However, we contend that it is unnecessary and unwarranted to envoke the term “body image disturbance” to explain these research findings. We suggest that further research in the area of “body disparagement” or the characteristic attitude of “weight phobia,” “fear of fatness,” or “pursuit of thinness” may be yet fruitful without this problematic concept. Theories are not true or false, they are fertile or sterile. —Claude Bernard. When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, It means just what I choose it to mean. —Lewis Carroll.

Should non‐fat‐phobic anorexia nervosa be included in DSM‐V?

“…How body image disturbance is manifest and assessed in the absence of weight concerns would require close examination. 44 Third, to date NFP-AN has been studied mainly within the context of eating disorder specialty clinics where eatingrelated clinical impairment is a prerequisite for study inclusion. Thus, the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnosis in nonspecialty and community samples remain unknown, and without positive indicators of eating disorder psychopathology (i.e., criteria B and C), it may be difficult to differentiate NFP-AN from low body weight because of (1) constitutional leanness, (2) co-occurring psychiatric illnesses associated with weight loss such as depression or conversion disorder, 68 (3) cooccurring physical illnesses associated with vomiting and weight loss such as achalasia, 69 and (4) volitional restriction of caloric intake for potentially less pathological reasons (i.e., in hopes of achieving longer life as in ''caloric restriction for longevity'' 70 ).…”

Static and dynamic body image in bulimia nervosa: Mental representation of body dimensions and biological motion patterns

“…4,12 Empirical work assessing the specificity of body size overestimation for eating disorders has yielded inconsistent results. [13][14][15] These inconsistencies might be due to methodological factors, since body perception assessment varied from light beam apparatuses in earlier studies 16 to the application of distortable photographs in more recent works. 17 Using photographs, however, reduces investigations of the perception of one's own body to its static properties.…”

Differences in Body Image and Depression Among Obese Women With and Without Binge Eating Disorder

“…Aspects of body image have been investigated empirically in participants with anorexia nervosa (AN) and, more recently, bulimia nervosa (BN) (see reviews by 8,28). Binge eating has been found to correlate witb negative physical self-image in non-clinical samples (27).…”