Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T19:43:02.510Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationship Between Body Build and Mental Illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Abraham Verghese ,
Pamela Large  and
Edmond Chiu
Abraham Verghese
Affiliation:
Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
Pamela Large
Affiliation:
Research Unit, Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital, Parkville
Edmond Chiu
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Parkville
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A study to test the relationship between body build and mental illness, conducted in Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital, Melbourne, is described. The Rees-Eysenck body index (REBI) and androgyny score (AGS) were determined for 225 male patients and 24 normals. As age increases, there is a decreasing trend in the scores for these two indices. There were no significant differences between the various diagnostic groups and the normal group for the AGS. But the difference between the non-paranoid schizophrenic group and paranoid schizophrenic group in REBI was significant.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 132 , Issue 1 , January 1978 , pp. 12 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Betz, B. (1942) Somatotypy of the schizophrenic patient. Human Biology, 14, 21.Google Scholar
Conolly, C.J. (1939) Physique in relation to psychology. Quoted by Rees (1960).Google Scholar
Coppen, A. J. (1959) Body build of male homosexuals. British Medical Journal, ii, 1443.Google Scholar
Epps, P. & Parnell, R. W. (1952) Physique and temperament of women delinquents compared with women undergraduates. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 25, 249.Google Scholar
Evans, R. B. (1972) Physical and biochemical characteristics of homosexual men. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 39, 140.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H.J. (1947) Dimensions of Personality. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Glueck, S. & Glueck, E. (1950) Unravelling Juvenile Delinquency. Quoted by Rees (1960).Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1950) Nomogram for Rees—Eysenck Body Index. Journal of Mental Science, 96, 540.Google ScholarPubMed
Kallman, F. (1953) Heredity in Health and Mental Disorders. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Kretschmer, E. (1936) Physique and Character. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.Google Scholar
Langfeldt, G. (1937) The Prognosis of Schizophrenia and the Factors Influencing the Course of the Disease. Copenhagen: Levin and Munksgaard.Google Scholar
Moore, T. V. & Hsu, E. H. (1946) Factorial analysis of measurements in psychotic patients. Human Biology, 18, 133.Google Scholar
Parnell, R. W. (1958) Behaviour and Physique. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Polednak, A. P. (1971) Body build of paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenic males. British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 191.Google Scholar
Rees, L. & Eysenck, H. J. (1945) A factorial study of some morphological and psychological aspects of human constitution. Journal of Mental Science, 91, 6.Google Scholar
Rees, L. (1960) Constitutional factors and abnormal behaviour. In Handbook of Abnormal Psychology (ed. Eysenck, H. J.). London: Pitman Medical Google Scholar
Sheldon, W. H., Stevens, S. S. & Tucker, W. B. (1940) The Varieties of Human Physique. New York: Harper and Bros.Google Scholar
Tanner, J. M. (1951) Current advances in the study of physique. Lancet, 260: 574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verghese, A. (1971) Body build in mental diseases. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 13, 229.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.