title: Body perception and satisfaction in obese, severely obese, and normal weight female patients.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate body perception and the associated level of dissatisfaction among obese patients. Twenty patients from each category of obese, severely obese, and normal weight individuals had their pictures enlarged or thinned using a computer program to manipulate photographs taken from the front, profile angle, and back. The pictures were shown to patients to represent both the way they thought they appeared and the way they would like to appear. Our results show that severely obese patients correctly perceived themselves as being more corpulent than obese patients, who in turn correctly perceived themselves as being more corpulent than normal weight females. These results remained stable regardless of whether the pictures were taken from the front, profile angle, or back. These results are discussed in terms of clinical and therapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: Parisian Social Psychology Laboratory, Paris 8 University, Saint Denis, France. aureliedocteur@gmail.com
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Docteur
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Urdapilleta
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Defrance
authors.forename: Jocelyne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raison
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000523:psychology*; D010781:Photography / Q000379:methods; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012984:Software; D055815:Young Adult