Body-Size Estimation in Eating Disorders Using Video Distortion on a Lif e-Size Screen

Abstract

Background: The video-distortion method on a life-size screen is one of the new methods to systematically study the body experience of eating-disordered patients. Methods: Using this method, we have studied body-size estimation in female patients suffering from eating disorders: anorexia nervosa restricting type (n = 87) and mixed type (n = 34); bulimia nervosa (n = 44), and a normal control group (n = 45). Subjects had to estimate a neutral object (neutral response) and their own body size: what they think they really look like (cognitive response); what they feel they look like (affective response), and what they want to look like (optative response). Results: No significant differences were found for the neutral and the cognitive response. Eating-disordered patients clearly did not overestimate their body size. The different subgroups showed interesting differences in the degree of discrepancy between cognitive and affective responses, and in the thinness of their body ideal. Conclusions: Researchers should focus on these elements of body experience, because they are clinically far more relevant than the simple question of over/underestimation.

The influence of personal BMI on body size estimations and sensitivity to body size change in anorexia spectrum disorders

“…Creating stimulus images which correctly represent how body shape changes as a function of changing BMI is difficult, because these changes are highly non-linear. One method that has been used previously is the video-distortion technique (VDT) (see e.g., Gardner and Bokenkamp, 1996;Probst, Vandereycken, & Van Coppenolle, 1997) in which 2D images of people are stretched or compressed in the horizontal dimension. However, this linear method is problematic as it creates shape changes particularly in the shoulder and hip regions which tend to be unrealistic (see below).…”

The Concept of Body Image Disturbance in Anorexia Nervosa: An Empirical Inquiry Utilizing Patients' Subjective Experiences

“…Although more ecologically valid methods have been developed to address these concerns (Farrell, Shafron, & Fairburn, 2003;Probst, Vandereycken, & Van Coppenolle, 1997;Shafran & Fairburn, 2002), body size estimation studies are still typically carried out as single-assessments in laboratories. That is, body image disturbance is considered as a stable trait that can be studied outside the context in which it occurs.…”

Fixation patterns, not clinical diagnosis, predict body size over‐estimation in eating disordered women and healthy controls

“…In treatment, its severity and persistence predicts long‐term outcome and the rate of relapse2, 3, 4, 5 which has been estimated to be as high as 35%, 15 months post discharge 6. Most studies have found that patients with AN overestimate their body size 5, 7, 8, 9. A potential explanation for this may lie in the pattern of eye‐movements made when body size is judged.…”