Body image assessment in patients with bulimia nervosa and normal controls

A video image distortion technique was used to assess differences in the perceived (actual) and ideal body size and shape among female patients with bulimia nervosa (n = 12) and two groups of nondepressed, non-eating-disordered women classified as restrained (n = 12) or unrestrained (n = 12) eaters. On the majority of measures of body image the bulimic patients and restrained eaters differed from the unrestrained eaters but did not differ significantly from each other. The results do not show that body image disturbance, at least as it was assessed in this study, discriminates bulimics from appropriate nonclinical controls. In absolute terms the bulimics were more accurate than the controls in estimating their current body size. The latter underestimated their body size. However, the bulimics' estimates were higher in relation to the controls. The discrepancy between perceived body size and ideal body size also differentiated the groups, with the bulimic and restrained subjects exhibiting significantly more discrepancy between perceived and ideal than the unrestrained subjects. Significant correlations between body size estimation and self-report of body satisfaction suggests that evaluation and perception of body are closely associated.