Body‐image disturbance in obesity

It is accepted that obese individuals have a body‐image (Bl) disturbance. We assumed that distorted size estimations are a characteristic Bl disturbance in the obese and that their Bl is on a developmentally lower level than in controls. The hypotheses were that in the obese there would be less differentiation between kinaesthetically and graphically expressed Bl and between Bl and personality variables. The subjects were 74 obese and 66 nonobese women, matched in demographic variables. They were administered individually a Body‐Size Estimation task, Human Figure Drawing, Fear of Death questionnaire, and TAT cards. The results were that in the obese, body‐size estimations were correlated more with the width and pathological signs in the drawings, MMPl scales, fear of death, and TAT themes. The findings supported the hypotheses and imply that in the obese the Bl constitutes a favorable medium for projections. It is recommended to complement the between‐group by the within‐group approach.