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Sexual abuse and body-image distortion in the eating disorders
1School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, UK.
The British Journal of Clinical Psychology
|September 1, 1993
Abstract:
It has been suggested that there is a link between sexual abuse and bodily self-deprecation in women with eating disorders. In order to test that model, this study considers whether reported sexual abuse is associated with body-image distortion in anorexia and bulimia nervosa. There was no association with the reported presence of a history of abuse. However, the nature of any abuse was important. In particular, women who reported more recent abuse had a substantially greater level of bodysize overestimation. The clinical implications of this finding are discussed.