[Physical and social comparisons at admission to therapy: a contribution to the differential diagnosis in obesity].

Social as well as physical comparison processes of 45 obese participants in a behavioral weight-loss-intervention were confronted to those of 28 obese non-participants. Non-participants were interviewed in general practitioner's offices, participants were interviewed at the beginning and the end of the weight-loss-intervention. Results clearly show that non-participants use standards to compare their body weight which are much harder to realize than participants do. The relevance of these results for the development of a differential diagnosis for the obese is discussed.