Body image distortion in anorexia and bulimia nervosa: the role of perceived and actual control.
It has been suggested that a desire for control is a central factor in eating disorders. There is, however, little evidence to support this clinical hypothesis. This experimental study examines the effects of actual and perceived control on a symptom of anorexia and bulimia nervosa-body image distortion. Using a learned helplessness paradigm, it was shown that eating-disordered and comparison women respond differently to manipulations of control. Anorexic and bulimic women appear to have a cognitive style of "mistaken pessimism," overestimating body size more when an easy task is perceived as difficult. In contrast, the comparison women are "mistaken optimists" overestimating less when they see a difficult task as being easy. The clinical implications are discussed and further research is proposed to extend these preliminary findings.
Waller
G
G
Departmemt of Clinical Psychology, royal hollowayCollege, University of London, United Kingdom.
Hodgson
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001828:Body Image; D002032:Bulimia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006380:Helplessness, Learned; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D010469:Perceptual Distortion; D011340:Problem Solving; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis