body image [AS, bodig + L, imago, likeness] , a person’s concept of his or her physical appearance. The mental representation, which may be realistic or unrealistic, is constructed from self-observation, the reactions of others, and a complex interaction of attitudes, emotions, memories, fantasies, and experiences, both conscious and unconscious. A marked inability to conceptualize one’s personal body characteristics may be caused by organic brain damage, as in autotopagnosia; by a physical disability, such as the loss of a limb; or by psychological and emotional disturbances, as in anorexia nervosa.
