Body Image Disturbance: An Alternative Hypothesis on the Common Psychopathology Link in Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder

Abstract

Body Image Disturbance (BID) which is defined as abnormalities in behavior, cognition or perception of one’s body weight or shape is an increasing psychiatric problem associated with several mental health conditions. Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) Binge eating disorder (BED) and Body Dysmorphic Disorder(BDD), although different in their clinical presentation, share BID s a common psychopathology or in fact emerge from same psychopathology. Despite this common lineage, the clinical approach to AN, BN and BED identifying the core feature of BID is rather neglected or presumed to be present without exploring its presence. Moreover the approaches to explore BID in these clinical conditions are not clear despite it being one of the key diagnostic criteria. We propose here an alternative hypothesis to view AN, BN and BED as subcategories of BID in clinical diagnosis. We believe such an approach will benefit from an evidence based objective assessment of BID with its clinical sub-categories such as BID-AN, BID-BN and BID-BDD.