Dysmorphophobic Disorder

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Dysmorphophobic Disorder

Dysmorphophobia is a common mental disorder among young people and older age groups. In most cases, this disorder begins in adolescence and is more common in women.

The focus is on a person's appearance, how he sees himself. Many people worry about their appearance and this can be only a small part of their life experiences, and only when we think about a certain part of the body all the time, and these thoughts become incapacitating (causing permanent harm) and significantly reduce the quality of our life and functioning. then it is possible that the person is diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder.

Diagnostics

This disorder has many ways of occurrence, but the most common causes for its development are:

1. Biological factors - the presence of obsessive-compulsive disorder in family members and relatives, a tendency to loop;

2. Psychological - low self-esteem, experience of humiliation and emotional underdevelopment, exaggerated importance of appearance, accepted in the family and in the social environment;

3. Neurobiological features of perception - focus of attention on details, and not on a holistic image;

4. The presence of a so-called critical event is a kind of start signal that triggers the disorder. They can be very stressed from the experience of humiliation in society, associated with appearance or other personality traits.

The diagnosis of this disorder can be complicated by the high comorbidity of dysmorphophobia with other comorbid disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia, eating disorders, and others. However, there are a number of diagnostic criteria, the presence of most of which will indicate a greater likelihood of having a body dysmorphic disorder.

1. Fixation of thoughts on their appearance;

2. Mirror: constant long-term checks for the presence of their real or imagined flaw, standing in front of a mirror or any other reflective surface;

3. Avoiding your reflection in a mirror or any other reflective surface;

4. a very strong belief in the presence of a flaw, even if this is not objectively confirmed in any way (excessive imagination);

5. Hiding a flaw under clothing with scarves, gloves, sunglasses, masks, clothing, etc.;

6. Repeating questions to others about their appearance (assurance of "normalcy");

7. Repeated visits to dermatologists, plastic surgeons, face correctors, etc.;

8. Constant attempts to remove acne, blackheads on the face, plucking "unnecessary" eyebrows and body hair. Obsession with this process;

9. Avoiding being in society;

10. Presence of defensive behavior: avoidance, compulsiveness.

What is most often the focus of attention in body dysmorphic disorder? The most common places for the presence of a "flaw" are on the head. It can be nose, lips, teeth, hair, ears, eye slit, problems with the skin of the face. In addition, the following characteristics of our body parts have great chances to become special: the size of the penis in men, the presence and shape and size of muscles, the size of the chest, the shape of the arms and legs, and the width of the hips.

Consequences

The consequences of body dysmorphic disorder can be dire. The severity of the disorder stems from its egosyntonic origin and the presence of a large number of comorbid diseases. The high risk of suicide or going into alcoholism and drug addiction make dysmorphophobia aggravating not only for the sufferer himself, but also for his relatives. The disease has a significant impact on the quality of human life, because defensive behavior sometimes takes from 3 to 8 hours a day, which makes it impossible to fully engage in everyday life.

Treatment

Is Dysmorphophobic Disorder Treated? Yes! Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is used to change beliefs that we should look perfect and that everyone is focused on our flaws. Revealing our "dysmorphophobic" thoughts and prevention of reaction to these thoughts, using the example of real life situations, helps us to understand how our thoughts and actions relate to reality. For example, a girl who has a fat fold on her belly may be asked to walk in public in a tight T-shirt and observe how many people are actually staring at her belly. Another method might be to photograph her wearing a tight shirt and then let people (acquaintances and strangers) rate her attractiveness.

As a rule, these experiments confirm the fact that our judgments about our appearance are largely subjective and do not correspond to reality.

It should be noted that the most common method to cope with dysmorphophobic disorder in people who have not sought psychotherapeutic help is plastic surgery. And the most unpleasant thing about this is that plastic surgery is unable to change an imaginary defect in the body due to the fact that it may not exist in reality.

There is no doubt that body dysmorphic disorder is very serious and worth treating. If you or your loved ones suffer from it, you should not debug the appeal to a therapist. It is worth doing it now.