Experimental studies on the nature of the psychological disorder in anorexia nervosa
| Autor: | G.F.M. Russell, P.D. Slade, P.G. Campbell |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1975 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Waist Endocrine and Autonomic Systems Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism Body size Audiology Body weight Anorexia nervosa medicine.disease Developmental psychology Psychiatry and Mental health Endocrinology Weight loss medicine Underweight medicine.symptom Psychology Weight gain Biological Psychiatry After treatment |
| Zdroj: | Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1:45-56 |
| ISSN: | 0306-4530 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/0306-4530(75)90022-0 |
| Popis: | 1. Patients with anorexia nervosa respond excessively to ‘external’ information about their body weight. 2. This was demonstrated in six patients by deceiving them about their body weight: if they thought they were losing weight they responded with a weight gain and vice versa. 3. The experiment was conducted on patients after they had responded to treatment which had restored their body weight to a near-normal level. Eighteen normally nourished nurses served as a control group. The patients also served as their own controls during the second half of the study when the direction of the deception was reversed. 4. Patients with anorexia nervosa misinterpret information about their body in the direction of over-estimating their size, even when they have become very thin as a result of their illness. 5. This was shown in 14 underweight patients who were asked to gauge the width of their body at the level of the face, bust, waist and hips. They consistently overestimated their body width whereas their estimate of body height was accurate. 6. The patients were retested after treatment had restored their body weight to a near-normal level. Paradoxically the distortion of their body image diminished after gaining weight. On the other hand accurate perception of body width was more likely to be restored in those patients who had gained weight more slowly over a longer period of time. 7. The apparatus used consisted of a horizontal beam carrying two movable lights. The subjects indicated the separation of the lights which corresponded to the estimated width of their body at a given level. Twenty normally nourished young women served as a control group. 8. It is concluded that patients with anorexia nervosa are abnormally susceptible to ‘external’ information about their body weight and this can result in alterations in weight. Moreover, as they are likely to imagine themselves wider (and fatter) than they actually are, weight loss ensues. The greater the weight loss, the more distorted becomes the patient's view of her body size. Thus a vicious circle is set up. Restoring body weight to normal can break this vicious circle. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|