An Experimental Video-Confrontation Procedure as a Therapeutic Technique and a Research Tool in the Treatment of Eating Disorders

In the previous chapter the notion of body image was discussed together with the manyfold problems of its experimental assessment in eating disorder patients. In view of the prolific research that has been described there, we are struck by the fact that many treatment studies, especially those in bulimic patients, minimize or even completely ignore the significance of the body experience as a therapeutic target and as an outcome variable (e.g., Fairburn et al. 1986; Hsu and Holder 1986; Lee and Rush 1986; Merrill et al. 1987; Mitchell et al. 1986; Norman et al. 1986; Swift et al. 1987; Wilson et al. 1986). Other investigators such as Birtchnell et al. (1985, 1986) did measure body image distortion before and after treatment for bulimia and found a decrease in overestimation. They do not pay attention, however, to the fact that many patients at the end of therapy are still overestimating their body shape: what will happen with them at long-term follow-up?