Body Image Deviation in Chronic Schizophrenia

By Reiko Koide, Akira Tamaoka

Subjects: Body image, Complications, Body image disturbance, Schizophrenia, Body Image, Perceptual Distortion

Description: Body image aberration in schizophrenia was earlier conceived as delusional and hallucinatory symptoms. However, perceptions of schizophrenia have changed dramatically, especially with the concept of negative symptoms in the 1980s and in the 1990s, to include the neurocognitive aspects of schizophrenia. Deviations in schizophrenics' body image from the standard underlying various behaviours or allegations concerning the body should be now refocused. In this book, using the Body Image Questionnaire (BIQ), comprised of three hypothetical components, anatomical, functional and psychological, attempts were made to resolve some primary questions. They were: whether or not there is any related clinical characteristics to schizophrenic body image aberration; whether there are aberrant components of body image specific to schizophrenia; and, whether or not there is unique link between depression and body image in schizophrenia.