Body Image Distortion and EDs

Just a short link for this morning, to a post by over at the Frontal Cortex which discusses the role of body image distortion in anorexia.  Lehrer compares disorted body image in anorexia to that of people with image distortion disorders that cause them to view body parts as alien, which sometimes leads to self-amputation.  He also describes the interesting case of an anorexic patient that wore a body suit to help with somatosensory rehabilitation.  (I don't think the study was that strong, though, even though the weight gain was statistically significant it was actually not that much and didn't take her anywhere near to being restored and healthy, and with EDs being so varied I don't think many conclusions can be drawn from a sample size of one).

Anyway, this blogger is not an ED expert, but the case he cites is interesting and the comments (including excellent input from Laura Collins!) on the post are worth reading, I always feel some anthropological intrigue in reading comments on these issues from people who are educated and knowledgeable in general but don't have much experience with EDs.