[Body image of patients with acute paranoid schizophrenia. A follow-up study]

In the light of the heterogeneous literature on disturbances of body image in schizophrenic patients, we examined body schema, body concept and body cathexis, their changes during hospital treatment and their correlations with psychopathology in 38 patients with acute paranoid schizophrenia. The image-marking method according to Askevold, the Body Distortion Questionnaire, a visual-analogue scale on body cathexis and psychopathometric scales were applied. Body schema was also investigated in 27 healthy controls. On average, patients underestimated the size of their lower extremities, indicating a centralized body schema. They accurately assessed proximal fixed points. Underestimation was significantly correlated with anxiety, overestimation with grandiosity. Body schema and body concept were relatively independent from each other and from body hallucinations. Disturbances of body perception were reduced significantly, but not completely, during the time from admission to discharge. The results confirm and clarify some findings in the literature on a distorted perception of body size and support theories on body perception in schizophrenia.