I come from Croatia, Europe, where I received my Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Psychology. In 2018 I moved to New Zealand with my partner, with a desire to pursue a PhD. I eventually applied for a PhD project at School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Australia, where I am currently enrolled. I became fascinated with clinical psychology when an undergraduate student, and later started to narrow my interest to eating disorders. I became aware of how an unhealthy relationship with food is common, and how disruptive it can be for an individual’s life. I was intrigued as to how certain mindsets within the fitness industry are often conflicted with the approach of mental health professionals, especially in the context of eating. Therefore, I had (and continue to have) an aspiration to conciliate these two perspectives, which stirs my motivation to research eating disorders and body image in different populations.
Learning from lived experience: rating items for body image questionnaire
People with lived experience of an eating disorder are being called on to help researchers understand and measure core body image disturbance in the illness. Body image as a concept is much more nuanced than typically considered, and several aspects of body image disturbance could contribute to eating disorder onset and maintenance. Body dissatisfaction is..