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Awareness of body dimensions during pregnancy: an analogue study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

P. D. Slade
P. D. Slade*
Affiliation:
Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr P. D. Slade, Academic Department of Psychiatry, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Pond St, London NW3 2QC.
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Synopsis

Two alternative explanations of the body-image abnormality in anorexia nervosa patients are outlined: namely, the ‘abnormal sensitivity’ and ‘adaptational failure’ hypotheses. Evidence relating to these 2 conflicting hypotheses was obtained from body-perception measurements carried out on groups of pregnant women.

In the first study 40 pregnant women, at approximately 4 months' duration, were found to overestimate their bodily dimensions, albeit to a lesser extent than the previously tested group of anorexia nervosa patients (Slade & Russell, 1973a). When they were subdivided on the basis of a history of weight change over the previous 12 months, the ‘stable weight’ subgroup was found to overestimate significantly more than the ‘weight gain’ and ‘weight loss’ subgroups.

In a second study 16 of the original group of pregnant women were retested at approximately 8 months' duration. Although their weight and bodily dimensions had increased on retesting, their tendency to overestimate was found to be significantly reduced.

It was concluded that the phenomenon of body-image disorder is not specific to anorexia nervosa, extending not only to patients with obesity and to some normal women, but also to women during pregnancy. Moreover, the ‘abnormal sensitivity’ hypothesis was considered to fit these and other recently accumulated data better than the alternative ‘adaptational failure’ hypothesis. Some of the theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , May 1977 , pp. 245 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

REFERENCES

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