Attitudes Toward the Body in Suicidal, Depressed, and Normal Adolescents

Scales for suicidal tendencies, dissociative tendencies, perception of actual vs ideal body features, & feelings toward the body were administered to suicidal adolescents, depressed nonsuicidal, & nonsuicidal normal adolescents. This article reviews previous studies & presents & discusses findings. A series of correlations showed that the higher the suicidal tendency, the higher the dissociation, the larger the discrepancy, & the stronger the negative feelings towards the body. (37 Refs.)