Psychophysical studies of body-image. IV. Disturbances in a hemiplegic sample.

Abstract

IN 1964, we described a new method to evaluate one aspect of body-image, namely, the internalized picture that the person has of the physical appearance of the body. 1 The instrument used in this assessment, called the adjustable body-distorting mirror, consists of a special full length mirror which can be adjusted to reflect the body of the observer on a distortion continuum from extremely distorted to completely undistorted. A normative study indicated that there is a wide range of reflections of the body acceptable to the subject. 2 Recently, we reported observations on a group of 20 chronic schizophrenic patients, many of whom were rated clinically as having distortions of body-image. 3 In view of the rather wide range of acceptable reflections shown by normals, the issue was whether an even broader range of acceptability characterized those patients judged clinically to suffer from distortions of bodyimage. By using as stimulus