Exploring Weight Bias and Negative Self-Evaluation in Patients with Mood Disorders: Insights from the BodyTalk Project,

2024

Article

ps

Background: Negative body image and adverse body self-evaluation represent key psychological constructs within the realm of weight bias (WB), potentially intertwined with the negative self-evaluation characteristic of depressive symptomatology. Although WB encapsulates an implicit form of self-critical assessment, its exploration among people with mood disorders (MD) has been under-investigated. Our primary goal is to comprehensively assess both explicit and implicit WB, seeking to reveal specific dimensions that could interconnect with the symptoms of MDs. Methods: A cohort comprising 25 MD patients and 35 demographically matched healthy peers (with 83% female representation) participated in a series of tasks designed to evaluate the congruence between various computer-generated body representations and a spectrum of descriptive adjectives. Our analysis delved into multiple facets of body image evaluation, scrutinizing the associations between different body sizes and emotionally charged adjectives (e.g., active, apple-shaped, attractive). Results: No discernible differences emerged concerning body dissatisfaction or the correspondence of different body sizes with varying adjectives. Interestingly, MD patients exhibited a markedly higher tendency to overestimate their body weight (p = 0.011). Explicit WB did not show significant variance between the two groups, but MD participants demonstrated a notable implicit WB within a specific weight rating task for BMI between 18.5 and 25 kg/m2 (p = 0.012). Conclusions: Despite the striking similarities in the assessment of participants’ body weight, our investigation revealed an implicit WB among individuals grappling with MD. This bias potentially assumes a role in fostering self-directed negative evaluations, shedding light on a previously unexplored facet of the interplay between WB and mood disorders.

@article{Meneguzzo:2024,
  title = {Exploring Weight Bias and Negative Self-Evaluation in Patients with Mood Disorders: Insights from the {BodyTalk} Project,},
  author = {Meneguzzo, Paolo and Behrens, Simone Claire and Pavan, Chiara and Toffanin, Tommaso and Quiros-Ramirez, M. Alejandra and Black, Michael J and Giel, Katrin and Tenconi, Elena and Favaro, Angela},
  journal = {Frontiers in Psychiatry},
  volume = {15},
  series = {Sec. Psychopathology},
  month = may,
  year = {2024},
  doi = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1407474},
  url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1407474/full},
  month_numeric = {5}
}