Search results for ‘Subject term:"eating disorders"’ Sort:
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Identity as an analytic problem: who's who in `pro-ana' websites?
- Authors:
- HAMMERSELY Martyn, TRESEDER Peggy
- Journal article citation:
- Qualitative Research, 7(3), August 2007, pp.283-300.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Identity is not only an important and difficult theoretical issue but also one that arises as a methodological problem. Indeed, which of the available conceptions of identity is adopted has implications for the very form that social inquiry takes. In this article, three quite different notions of identity are explored, as substantive agency, as a matter of discursive attribution, and as an analytic model. The issues involved in the use of each of these versions of identity in research are explored. In the second half of the article, in order to examine these problems in more concrete terms, the authors look at how they emerge in internet ethnography concerned with `pro-ana' websites.
I see what you see: the lack of a self-serving body-image bias in eating disorders
- Authors:
- JANSEN Anita, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45(1), March 2006, pp.123-135.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This Dutch study aimed to examine whether eating-disordered subjects have valid reasons for their feelings of unattractiveness, the body images of eating-symptomatic subjects and control models were compared with inter-subjective evaluations of these bodies given by two community samples (panels; N=72, N=88). The results found that although the objective body sizes of the eating-symptomatic subjects were in the normal range and not different from control bodies, the first panel rated the (headless) bodies of the eating-symptomatic subjects as less attractive. This finding was replicated with the second panel. There was also large agreement between the eating-symptomatic subjects and the second panel on the specific body parts that were indicated as unattractive. Contrary to the eating-symptomatic subjects, the control models showed a strong positively biased perception of their own attractiveness: they rated their own bodies more positively than others rated them. Consensual validation of the harsh body appraisals of eating-symptomatic subjects was found. Interestingly, the normal controls were the ones that showed a biased body image; they rated themselves far more attractive than other people rated them. These data suggest that the real problem in eating disorders is not a distorted body image but a lack of a distorted body image, that is, the lack of a self-serving body-image bias.
Sexual abuse and body image distortion
- Authors:
- BRYAM Victoria, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child Abuse and Neglect, 19(4), April 1995, pp.507-510.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Studies have concluded that sexual abuse is associated with eating and eating psychopathology. However, the nature of such an association remains unclear. Discusses the complexity of the mechanisms through which unwanted sexual experience may be causally related to the development and maintenance of eating psychopathology and draws attention to the fact that distorted body image is associated with many other features of psychopathology, such as anxiety or poor self-esteem.
Food for thought
- Author:
- KALINOWSKI Kate
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Today, May 2015, pp.25-27.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
The author presents an overview of the finding from a year-long study into the issue of mothers with eating disorders and their role when it comes to feed the rest of the family. The research used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and examined interview data from eight interviews with mothers with eating disorders. Themes identified included mothers' guilt surrounding the interaction of the eating disorder and their children, often resulting in mothers isolating themselves from family and friends. A second theme involved the relationship between multiple eating disorders within one household, when both mother and child were affected by the condition. The study highlights the importance of targeted therapeutic support for mothers and their family. (Original abstract)
Regaining playfulness
- Authors:
- ROGERS Lisa, PICKETT Hal
- Journal article citation:
- Therapy Today, 16(8), October 2005, pp.12-15.
- Publisher:
- British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
Play therapy lends itself to work with adolescents. The authors discuss techniques for engaging young people who have eating disorders.
Understanding affective and cognitive self-evaluations about the body for adolescent girls
- Authors:
- BORNHOLT Laurel, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Health Psychology, 10(4), November 2005, pp.485-503.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The aim of this study was to understand relations between cognitive and affective self-evaluations about the body for adolescent girls in the context of their diverse experiences of the body. The project involved adolescent girls (N = 141), including underweight to overweight schoolgirls, and hospitalized girls with anorexia nervosa (AN). Materials were brief, reliable inventories of self-concepts about body, movement and appearance, and feelings about the body. Measurement models confirmed the related yet discrete self-concepts about the body, movement and appearance, and feeling OK, guilt, worry, disgust, and anger about the body. Self-concepts and feelings were not correlated with body weight, and were sensitive and specific for girls with AN versus low-weight schoolgirls. Relations among self-concepts and feelings about the body vary with the context. In particular, self-concepts and feelings about the body were incongruent for AN girls with acute experiences of making self-evaluations of their bodies. IIt is clear that self-evaluations by adolescent girls do not necessarily reflect actual body weight. Findings suggest that associations between thoughts and feelings about the body vary with diverse experiences of the body. Results support brief, reliable, and valid indicators of self-concepts and feelings about the body that are vital in the design of prevention, intervention, and monitoring, and the evaluation of programmes for girls in clinical and educational settings.
A cognitive distortion associated with eating disorders: thought-shape fusion
- Authors:
- SHAFRAN Roz, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38(2), June 1999, pp.167-179.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Describes and investigates cognitive distortion associated with eating psychopathology. This distortion, termed 'thought-shape fusion', is said to occur when merely thinking about eating a forbidden food increases the person's estimate of their shape or weight, elicits a perception of moral wrongdoing and makes the person feel fat. Two studies were conducted which found that the concept of thought-shape fusion is coherent, unifactorial and measurable. It is associated with eating disturbance and elicits negative emotional and behavioural responses.
Childhood abuse, body image disturbance and eating disorders
- Authors:
- SCHAFF Kristin K., McCANNE Thomas R.
- Journal article citation:
- Child Abuse and Neglect, 18(8), August 1994, pp.607-615.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Studies have suggested that women who experience child sexual abuse are at risk for developing symptoms related to anorexia nervosa and bulimia. The purpose of the authors' study was to examine the relationship among childhood sexual and physical abuse, body image disturbance, and eating disorders symptomatology. Contrary to previous reports, there was no evidence that child sexual abuse or physical abuse was associated with the development of body image disturbance. The results also did not support the hypothesis that child sexual and physical abuse are related to eating disorder symptomatology.
The development and application of compassion-focused therapy for eating disorders (CFT-E)
- Authors:
- GOSS Kenneth, ALLAN Steven
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53(1), 2014, pp.62-77.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Objectives: This article outlines specific developments in compassion-focused therapy (CFT) for the treatment of patients with an eating disorder. Methods: The article provides a narrative review based on the existing literature and current practices of CFT for eating disorders (CFT-E). Results: The role of shame, self-criticism, self-directed hostility, and difficulties in generating and experiencing affiliative emotion in patients with an eating disorder is highlighted. The article describes how CFT-E uniquely addresses these issues and discusses the current evidence base for CFT-E. It also provides an outline of recent and potential future developments in CFT-E. Conclusions: CFT-E offers a promising treatment for adult outpatients who present to specialist eating disorder services with restricting and binge/purging eating disorders. Recent developments include treatment protocols for patients who are low weight and have an eating disorder and for those presenting with obesity. Practitioner points: CFT-E is a group-based treatment for adult outpatients with restricting or binge/purging eating disorders attending specialist services. CFT-E has a specific protocol and interventions to address the biological, psychological, and social challenges of recovery from an eating disorder. CFT-E specifically addresses the high levels of shame and self-criticism commonly experienced by patients with an eating disorder. (Publisher abstract)
Illness perception and its relationship to readiness to change in the eating disorders: a preliminary investigation
- Authors:
- STOCKFORD Katie, TURNER Hannah, COOPER Myra
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46(2), June 2007, pp.139-154.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The study investigated the psychometric properties of a modified version of the Illness Perception Questionnaire - Revised (IPQ-R) in individuals with eating disorders. The relationship between illness representations and stage of change was then explored. A cross-sectional design was employed and participants were asked to complete a set of questionnaires. A subset of participants completed the IPQ-R again after 2 weeks in order to assess test-retest reliability. The relationship between illness representations and stage of change was explored using hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Sixty-nine participants with a clinical eating disorder took part in the study. With the exception of the causal subscales, the modified version of the IPQ-R had good internal validity and good test-retest reliability. Consequences, treatment control and personal control as well as cyclical timeline perceptions accounted for a significant and unique amount of variance in readiness to change stage scores. Findings suggest that this modified version of the IPQ-R provides a reliable means of exploring illness representations in individuals with eating disorders. Given the significant relationships between illness representations and stage of change, it may be helpful to consider these aspects of illness representations when carrying out therapeutic work with this clinical population. Further research might usefully investigate the relationship between illness perceptions and clinical outcome, as well as examine what factors are important in the shift between stages of change in a longitudinal design.