Look at yourself: can body image therapy affect the cognitive and emotional response to seeing oneself in the mirror in eating disorders?

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Abstract
The study examined whether the extent of negative body‐related thoughts and emotions evoked by looking in a mirror can be changed by cognitive‐behavioural body image therapy (BIT) and whether any remaining cognitive and affective responses dropped faster after the treatment. Females with eating disorders (n = 17) looked in a mirror for 40 minutes under standardised conditions before and after BIT. A control group (CG) (n = 24) was also exposed to their own bodies twice. Cognitive and affective reactions were assessed four times during the session. Hierarchical Linear Modelling revealed that among eating‐disordered patients, the entrance levels of negative thoughts and feelings were lower at post compared to pre‐BIT, whereas they remained stable in the CG. The extent of reduction of the remaining body image distress was not changed after the treatment. BIT seems to be a potent treatment of negative emotions and cognitions in an in vivo situation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.