Body image is a medical term, often used in the context of describing a patient's cognitive perception of their own body. The medical concept began with the work of the Austrian neuropsychiatrist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder whose masterpiece The Image and Appearance of the Human Body was first published in 1935.

Medical applications

In psychology, it typically refers to one's perceptions, beliefs, and emotional attitudes towards one's body. The concept is used to discuss various pathologies and disorder, such as anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...

 and other eating disorders, body dysmorphic disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder

Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a type of mental illness, a somatoform disorder, wherein the affected person is exclusively concerned with body image, manifested as excessive concern about and preoccupation with a perceived defect of his or her physical features...

, body integrity identity disorder

Body integrity identity disorder

Body Integrity Identity Disorder , formerly known as Amputee Identity Disorder, is a psychological disorder wherein sufferers feel they would be happier living as an amputee...

 and various post-stroke

Stroke

A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

 conditions like somatoparaphrenia

Somatoparaphrenia

Somatoparaphrenia is a type of monothematic delusion where one denies ownership of a limb or an entire side of one's body. As an example, a patient would believe that her or his own arm would belong to the doctor, or that another patient left it behind....

, and unilateral neglect.

Body image problems may also manifest themselves in psychopathologies like schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...

 and the Cotard delusion

Cotard delusion

The Cotard delusion or Cotard's syndrome or Walking Corpse Syndrome is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which people hold a delusional belief that they are dead , do not exist, are putrefying, or have lost their blood or internal organs...

. Although it is often confused with the term 'body schema

Body schema

Body schema is a concept used in several disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, sports medicine, and robotics. There is no consensus on the definition of body schema across these disciplines...

', which concerns postural and motor control, 'body image' is distinct from the former phenomena.

See also

• Body schema
  Body schema
  Body schema is a concept used in several disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, sports medicine, and robotics. There is no consensus on the definition of body schema across these disciplines...
  
  
• Mirror box
  Mirror box
  A mirror box is a box with two mirrors in the center , invented by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran to help alleviate phantom limb pain, in which patients feel they still have a limb after having it amputated....
  
  
• Pinocchio illusion
  Pinocchio illusion
  The Pinocchio illusion is an illusion that one's nose is growing longer, as happened to the literary character Pinocchio when he told a lie. It is an illusion of proprioception, reviewed by Lackner ....
  
  
• Body image
  Body image
  Body image refers to a person's perception of the aesthetics and sexual attractiveness of their own body. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his masterpiece The Image and Appearance of the Human Body...
  
  —social concept