Methodological problems of body image research in anorexia nervosa patients

The significance of the disturbed body image as a psychopathological phenomenon in anorexia nervosa patients is quite evident to clinicians. It appears to be difficult, however, to assess this disturbance in a more objective way. The studies on body image perception discussed here make use of objective psychometric methods of measurement: image marking procedure, visual size estimation apparatus, distorting photograph technique, and video distortion. The following methodological problems are discussed: reliability, validity, experimental situation, and selection of subjects. Experimental data are presented on 52 anorectic patients as well as 210 control subjects, studied with three different perceptual tasks.