Tactile body image disturbance in anorexia nervosa

PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH

卷:190

Article

Keizer, Anouk¹  Dijkerman, Hendrik Christiaan¹  Klugkist, Irene²  van Elburg, Annemarie³  Postma, Albert^1,4 

[1] Univ Utrecht, Fac Social & Behav Sci, Helmholtz Res Inst, NL-3508 TC Utrecht, Netherlands

[2] Univ Utrecht, Fac Social & Behav Sci, Dept Methodol & Stat, NL-3508 TC Utrecht, Netherlands

[3] Altrecht Mental Hlth Inst, Rintveld Ctr Eating Disorders, Zeist, Netherlands

[4] Univ Med Ctr Utrecht, Dept Neurol, Utrecht, Netherlands

关键词: Body representation;    Body dissatisfaction;    Eating disorders;    Mental imagery;    Size perception;    Touch perception;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.psychres.2011.04.031

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Body image disturbances are central to anorexia nervosa (AN). Previous studies have focused mainly on attitudinal and visual aspects. Studies on somatosensory aspects thus far have been scarce. We therefore investigated whether AN patients and controls differed in tactile perception, and how this tactile body image related to visual body image and body dissatisfaction. The Tactile Estimation Task (TET) measured tactile body image: Two tactile stimuli were applied to forearm and abdomen, and, while blindfolded, participants estimated the distance between the two tactile stimuli between their thumb and index finger. The Distance Comparison Task (DCT) measured visual body image. Compared to controls (n = 25), AN patients (n = 20) not only visualized their body less accurately, but also overestimated distances between tactile stimuli on both the arm and abdomen, which might reflect a disturbance in both visual and tactile body image. High levels of body dissatisfaction were related to more severe inaccuracies in the visual mental image of the body, and overestimation of tactile distances. Our results imply that body image disturbances in AN are more widespread than previously assumed as they not only affect visual mental imagery, but also extend to disturbances in somatosensory aspects of body image. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free