Body representation disturbances in visual perception and affordance perception persist in eating disorder patients after completing treatment

Manja M Engel,Anouk Keizer

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-16362-w

Manja M Engel, Anouk Keizer

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-16362-w

Copy DOI

Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Nov 23, 2017
Citations: 52	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Utrecht University, Westfriesgasthuis

Abstract

Body image disturbances (BID) are a key feature of eating disorders (ED). Clinical experience shows that BID exists in patients who Completed their Eating Disorder Treatment (CEDT), however studies concerning BID in CEDT patients are often limited to cognition and affect, measured by interviews and questionnaires. The current study is the first systematic study investigating the full scope of the mental body representation, including bodily attitudes, visual perception of body size, tactile perception, and affordance perception in CEDT patients. ED patients (N = 22), CEDT patients (N = 39) and healthy controls (HC; N = 30) were compared on BID tasks including the Body Attitude Test (BAT), Visual Size Estimation (VSE), Tactile Estimation Task (TET), and Hoop Task (HT). Results on the BAT show higher scores for ED patients compared to CEDT patients and HC but no difference between CEDT patients and HC. Both ED and CEDT patients show larger overestimations on the VSE and HT compared to HC, where ED patients show the largest overestimations. No group differences were found on the TET. The results indicate the existence of disturbances in visual perception and affordance perception in CEDT patients. Research focussing on more effective treatments for ED addressing multiple (sensory) modalities is advised.

Highlights

An eating disorder (ED) is a severe mental illness that causes impairments in psychosocial functioning and/ or physical health[1]
No significant difference was found between Completed their Eating Disorder Treatment (CEDT) patients and healthy controls (HC) on the Body Attitude Test (BAT) subscale ‘negative appreciation with one’s body size’, t(87) = 0.84, p = 0.201 (1-tailed), and BAT subscale ‘general dissatisfaction with one’s own body’, t(62.53) = 0.86, p < 0.131 (1-tailed)
The current study is the first systematic study that aimed to investigate whether multiple aspects of body image disturbance (BID) that are found in ED patients see e.g.14,15,55,56 may continue to exist after treatment completion for ED since current treatments focuses mainly on disturbed thoughts and emotions, and to a lesser extent on sensory perception e.g

Summary

Introduction

An eating disorder (ED) is a severe mental illness that causes impairments in psychosocial functioning and/ or physical health[1]. In the present study we systematically investigated the mental body representation in patients who completed ED treatment (CEDT group), and compared them to acute ED patients (ED group) and healthy controls (HC group). We assessed four domains in which BID in ED patients are found: bodily attitudes, visual perception of body size, tactile perception, and affordance perception.

Results

Conclusion