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Increased plasticity of the bodily self in eating disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2011

E. Eshkevari ,
E. Rieger ,
M. R. Longo ,
P. Haggard  and
J. Treasure
E. Eshkevari*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia King's College London, Section of Eating Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
E. Rieger
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
M. R. Longo
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, UK
P. Haggard
Affiliation:
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
J. Treasure
Affiliation:
King's College London, Section of Eating Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: E. Eshkevari, B.Psych. (Hons), Department of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

The rubber hand illusion (RHI) has been widely used to investigate the bodily self in healthy individuals. The aim of the present study was to extend the use of the RHI to examine the bodily self in eating disorders (EDs).

Method

The RHI and self-report measures of ED psychopathology [the Eating Disorder Inventory – 3 (EDI-3) subscales of Drive for Thinness, Bulimia, Body Dissatisfaction, Interoceptive Deficits, and Emotional Dysregulation; the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21); and the Self-Objectification Questionnaire (SOQ)] were administered to 78 individuals with an ED and 61 healthy controls.

Results

Individuals with an ED experienced the RHI significantly more strongly than healthy controls on both perceptual (i.e. proprioceptive drift) and subjective (i.e. self-report questionnaire) measures. Furthermore, both the subjective experience of the RHI and associated proprioceptive biases were correlated with ED psychopathology. Approximately 23% of the variance for embodiment of the fake hand was accounted for by ED psychopathology, with interoceptive deficits and self-objectification significant predictors of embodiment.

Conclusions

These results indicate that the bodily self is more plastic in people with an ED. These findings may shed light on both aetiological and maintenance factors involved in EDs, particularly visual processing of the body, interoceptive deficits, and self-objectification.

Keywords

Bodily selfbody perceptioneating disordersinteroceptionrubber hand illusion
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , April 2012 , pp. 819 - 828
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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