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Estimation of body dimensions in anorexia nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

R. A. Pierloot  and
M. E. Houben
R. A. Pierloot*
Affiliation:
St Jozef's Psychiatric Hospital, Kortenberg, Belgium
M. E. Houben
Affiliation:
St Jozef's Psychiatric Hospital, Kortenberg, Belgium
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor R. A. Pierloot, St Jozef's Psychiatric Hospital, Leuvenbaan 68, 3070 Kortenberg, Belgium.
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Synopsis

The estimation of body dimensions in a group of 31 patients with anorexia nervosa and a control group of 20 psychoneurotic females has been studied with different techniques, including a visual size estimation apparatus and the marking of indicated body points on a paper attached to the wall. The results confirm the previously described tendency by patients with anorexia nervosa to overestimate body size in the stage before their treatment in hospital. Various differences between the two groups were found and the anorexic patients were more inconsistent in the estimation of the different body measures. On the basis of correlations with the results of an internal-external control questionnaire, it is suggested that overestimation and variability in visual size estimation could be promoted by an orientation towards external control.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , May 1978 , pp. 317 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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