Related Research Articles
An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Types of eating disorders include binge eating disorder, where the patient eats a large amount in a short period of time; anorexia nervosa, where the person has an intense fear of gaining weight and restricts food or overexercises to manage this fear; bulimia nervosa, where individuals eat a large quantity (binging) then try to rid themselves of the food (purging); pica, where the patient eats non-food items; rumination syndrome, where the patient regurgitates undigested or minimally digested food; avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), where people have a reduced or selective food intake due to some psychological reasons; and a group of other specified feeding or eating disorders. Anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse are common among people with eating disorders. These disorders do not include obesity. People often experience comorbidity between an eating disorder and OCD. It is estimated 20-60% of patients with an ED have a history of OCD.
Body image is a person's thoughts, feelings and perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body. The concept of body image is used in a number of disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, philosophy, cultural and feminist studies; the media also often uses the term. Across these disciplines, there is no single consensus definition, but broadly speaking body image consists of the ways people view themselves; their memories, experiences, assumptions, and comparisons about their own appearances; and their overall attitudes towards their own respective heights, shapes, and weights—all of which are shaped by prevalent social and cultural ideals.
A food or eating addiction is any behavioral addiction that is primarily characterized by the compulsive consumption of palatable food items which markedly activate the reward system in humans and other animals despite adverse consequences.
The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) is a short questionnaire developed in 1987 by Michael Liebowitz, a psychiatrist and researcher at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Its purpose is to assess the range of social interaction and performance situations feared by a patient in order to assist in the diagnosis of social anxiety disorder. It is commonly used to study outcomes in clinical trials and, more recently, to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatments. The scale features 24 items, which are divided into two subscales. 13 questions relate to performance anxiety and 11 concern social situations. The LSAS was originally conceptualized as a clinician-administered rating scale, but has since been validated as a self-report scale.
The Eating Attitudes Test, created by David Garner, is a widely used 26-item, standardized self-reported questionnaire of symptoms and concerns characteristic of eating disorders. The EAT is useful in assessing "eating disorder risk" in high school, college and other special risk samples such as athletes. EAT has been extremely effective in screening for anorexia nervosa in many populations.
Sexuality can be inscribed in a multidimensional model comprising different aspects of human life: biology, reproduction, culture, entertainment, relationships and love.
The Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) is a self-report questionnaire used to assess the presence of eating disorders, (a) anorexia nervosa both restricting and binge-eating/purging type; (b) bulimia nervosa; and (c) eating disorder not otherwise specified including binge eating disorder. The original questionnaire consisted of 64 questions, divided into eight subscales. It was created in 1984 by David M. Garner and others. There have been two subsequent revisions by Garner: the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) and the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3).
The Body Attitudes Test (BAT) was developed by Probst et al. in 1995. It was designed for the assessment of multiple eating disorders in women. The BAT measures an individual's subjective body experience and attitudes towards one's own body. It is a questionnaire composed of twenty items which yields four different factors that evaluate the internal view of the patient's own body.
The Eating Disorder Examination Interview (EDE) devised by Cooper & Fairburn (1987) is a semi-structured interview conducted by a clinician in the assessment of an eating disorder.
The SCOFF questionnaire utilizes an acronym in a simple five question test devised for use by non-professionals to assess the possible presence of an eating disorder. It was devised by Morgan et al. in 1999. The original SCOFF questionnaire was devised for use in the United Kingdom, thus the original acronym needs to be adjusted for users in the United States and Canada. The "S" in SCOFF stands for "Sick" which in British English means specifically to vomit. In American English and Canadian English it is synonymous with "ill". The "O" is used in the acronym to denote "one stone". A "stone" is an Imperial unit of weight which made up of 14 lbs. The letters in the full acronym are taken from key words in the questions:
The Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R) is a 36 item self-report questionnaire to assess the presence of bulimic symptoms. It was devised by Thelen et al. in 1991 the first version was devised by Thelen et al. in 1984. The test has been validated for use in both males and females.
The Anorectic Behavior Observation Scale (ABOS) is a thirty-item diagnostic questionnaire devised to be answered by the parents, spouse or other family member of an individual suspected of having an eating disorder. It was developed by Vandereyken et al. in 1992. The ABOS is useful for evaluations of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) before, during, and after clinical treatments. It can also be a significant tool for the screening of subjects in early-stage ED.
The Minnesota Eating Behavior Survey (MEBS) is a 30 item self-report questionnaire used to assess the presence of an eating disorder. It is designed for use with both male and females age 10 to adult. The MEBS was originally designed for use by McGue et al. in the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS) a longitudinal study to assess the onset of psychological pathology including eating disorders among 1,400 twin girls and their parents.
The Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale (EDDS) is a self-report questionnaire that assesses the presence of three eating disorders; anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. It was adapted by Stice et al. in 2000 from the validated structured psychiatric interview: The Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) and the eating disorder module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID)16.
The figure rating scale (FRS), also known as the Stunkard scale, is a psychometric measurement originally developed in 1983 to communicate about the unknown weights of a research subject's absent relatives, and since adapted to assess body image.
Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Anorexia is a term of Greek origin: an- and orexis, translating literally to "a loss of appetite"; the adjective nervosa indicating the functional and non-organic nature of the disorder. Anorexia nervosa was coined by Gull in 1873 but, despite literal translation, the feeling of hunger is frequently present and the pathological control of this instinct is a source of satisfaction for the patients.
Social stigma of obesity is broadly defined as bias or discriminatory behaviors targeted at overweight and obese individuals because of their weight and a high body fat percentage. Such social stigmas can span one's entire life, as long as excess weight is present, starting from a young age and lasting into adulthood. Studies by several universities indicate overweight and obese individuals experience higher levels of stigma relative to their thinner counterparts.
Body cathexis is defined as the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction one feels towards various parts and aspects of their own body. This evaluative dimension of body image is dependent on a person's investment of mental and emotional energy in body size, parts, shape, processes, and functions, and is integral to one's sense of self-concept. First recognized by Jourard and Secord, body cathexis is assessed by examining correlations between measures of self-concept or esteem and bodily attitudes. An individual's evaluation of their own body tends to drive various behaviors, including clothing choices and weight management, and the existence of a universal ideal for certain dimensions of body type is, in many cases, a source of anxiety and insecurity.
The Attribution Questionnaire (AQ) is a 27-item self-report assessment tool designed to measure public stigma towards people with mental illnesses. It assesses emotional reaction and discriminatory responses based on answers to a hypothetical vignette about a man with schizophrenia named Harry. There are several different versions of the vignette that test multiple forms of attribution. Responses assessing stigma towards Harry are in the form of 27 items rated on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 9 (very much). There are 9 subscales within the AQ that breakdown the responses one could have towards a person with mental illness into different categories. The AQ was created in 2003 by Dr. Patrick Corrigan and colleagues and has since been revised into smaller tests because of the complexity and hypothetical that did not capture children and adolescent's stigmas well. The later scales are the Attribution Questionnaire-9 (AQ-9), the revised Attribution Questionnaire (r-AQ), and the children's Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-8-C).
Body image disturbance (BID) is a common symptom in patients with eating disorders and is characterized by an altered perception of one's own body.
References
- ↑ Ben-Tovim DI, Walker MK (1991). "The development of the Ben-Tovim Walker Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAQ), a new measure of women's attitudes towards their own bodies". Psychological Medicine. 21 (3): 775–84. doi:10.1017/S0033291700022406. PMID 1946865. S2CID 27314049.
- ↑ Scagliusi FB; et al. (2005). "Psychometric testing and applications of the Body Attitudes Questionnaire translated into Portuguese". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 101 (1): 25–41. doi:10.2466/PMS.101.5.25-41. PMID 16350606.
- ↑ Kagawa M, Uchida H, Uenishi K, Binns CW, Hills AP (2007). "Applicability of the Ben-Tovim Walker Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAQ) and the Attention to Body Shape scale (ABS) in Japanese males and females" (PDF). Eating Behaviors. 8 (3): 277–84. doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2006.11.002. PMID 17606224.