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Comparisons of Weight Concepts in Groups of Neurotic, Normal and Anorexic Females

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Fay Fransella  and
A. H. Crisp
Fay Fransella
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychiatry, St George's Hospital Medical School, London
A. H. Crisp
Affiliation:
St George's Hospital Medical School, London, S.W.17
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Summary

A group of normal women and a group of women in hospital for treatment of a neurosis but without a disorder of eating were compared with a group of anorexic patients in terms of their attitudes to weight. All subjects completed a rank order form of repertory grid. Differences in construct patterning between the anorexic patients and the other female groups could not be accounted for by social class, age or neurotic disorder. The most psychologically significant finding was a positive correlation between the constructs self at normal weight and ideal weight instead of a negative correlation which clinical experience would lead one to expect. Four explanations are proposed to account for this finding.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 134 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 79 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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