Preoccupation with appearance Assessment Questionnaire

Why: e.g. central fear of weight gain, distorted body image, preoccupation with a perceived defect in one's appearance.

Why: e.g. the anorexic patient is often overweight during her younger childhood years and may have been teased for being so.

Why: e.g. the anorexic patient may be dependent, immature, perfectionist, afraid of growing up; certain types of personality disorders may feature a preoccupation with appearance such as narcissistic personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder and obsessional personality disorder.

Why: there may be problematic family interpersonal relationships which need exploration in anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, depression and in certain personality disorders.

Why: e.g. parent's marriage break-up - maintaining factors are sometimes very important in prolonging what might otherwise have been a brief episode of dieting.

Why: depression, anxiety and eating disorders can run in families.

Why: e.g. refusal to maintain normal body weight, loss of more than 25% of original body weight, intense fear of becoming fat, preoccupation with calorie counting, avoidance of all carbohydrate, fainting.

Why: e.g. recurrent episodes of binge eating; preoccupation with food and weight changes; consumption of high calorie, easily digested food during the binge; termination of the binge by abdominal pain, sleep or vomiting; inconspicuous eating during a binge; repeated attempts to lose weight by frequent vomiting, fasting or use of laxatives or diuretics; frequent fluctuations of more than 4.5kg; awareness of abnormal eating pattern and fear of not being able to stop voluntarily; depressed mood after binge. May have a previous history of anorexia nervosa.

Why: e.g. depressed mood, crying spells, irritability, anhedonia (loss of interest or pleasure), increase or decrease in appetite (usually decreased), weight loss or gain, insomnia or increased sleeping (usually early morning waking), fatigue, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness, feelings of excessive guilt, poor concentration, difficulty making decisions, low libido, thoughts of death or suicide attempt. Depression may also cause a preoccupation with appearance.

Why: e.g. preoccupation with a perceived defect in one's appearance. If a slight defect is present, which others hardly notice, then the concern is regarded a markedly excessive. The preoccupation must cause significant distress or impairment in one's occupational or social functioning.

Why: e.g. inability to love others, tendency to use people and then discard them, lack of regard for the feelings of others, grandiosity, an insatiable need for admiration, lack of empathy with others. Their manner is arrogant, haughty, superior and dismissive. A failure to live up to their expectations of themselves may lead to depression.

Why: Adolescents have a heightened awareness of bodily change, they are normally narcissistic and thus are preoccupied with issues of adequacy. Young adolescents are often concerned that their growth and development are not progressing normally. For boys, in particular, the psychological effects of being slow to develop, too short or too thin in comparison with one's peers can be profound, while excessive tallness may provide particular difficulties for girls.