March 3, 2006 – “Ah! I laugh to see myself so beautiful in this mirror … “1, women who have a poor self-image should be able to say to themselves. For them, the mirror would indeed be an effective therapeutic tool! At least that’s what two American psychologists say who use the mirror to improve the body image of women obsessed with their weight and their appearance.
In an article2 recently published by theInternational Journal of Eating Disorders, they report the results of a clinical trial they conducted with women overly concerned about their weight and physical appearance.
Researchers first explain that such concerns reflect disturbances in body image, which often lead to anorexia or bulimia. These disorders are manifested, in general, by an obsession with the mirror: either that the person multiplies the visits to the bathroom to check his appearance or that, on the contrary, he systematically avoids looking at himself in a mirror. These people, most often women, have a very negative perception of their own body, which leads to very low self-esteem, depression and a tendency to alternate between various weight loss diets and overeating.
As part of this study, 45 women with body image disorders underwent either mirror exposure therapy or conventional therapy of the “client-centered” type, for three weeks, at the rate of one session per week.
The women who participated in the sessions in front of the mirror made more marked progress than those who followed the traditional therapy: improvement of their body image, their self-esteem and their depressive state as well as reduction of their obsession with the mirror. and their concerns about weight and appearance.
Therapy involving systematic and deliberate exposure to the mirror – led by a therapist – can help these people see their bodies more objectively and break free from negative obsessions with their self-image. , according to the study authors, a psychologist and director of the Eating Disorders Clinic at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
These researchers conclude that this therapeutic approach can help prevent the onset of eating disorders in women obsessed with their weight and appearance. They now want to test mirror therapy with women who already suffer from anorexia or bulimia.
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
According to Reuters Health.
1. Marguerite’s aria in the opera Faust by Gounod and Castafiore’s favorite tirade in Tintin by Hergé.
2. Delinsky SS, Wilson GT. Mirror exposure for the treatment of body image disturbance, Int J Eat Disord, 2006 Mar; 39 (2): 108-16.
